


equuleus

by odasakunosuke



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Beauxbatons! Oikawa, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, M/M, Other Characters - Freeform, Rivals to Lovers, Slytherin! Kuroo, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 44,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22390159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odasakunosuke/pseuds/odasakunosuke
Summary: “I don't care who you are, how important your family is and if you're a popular, pretty and smart boy. Tournament or not, I'll make sure to do anything in my power to crush that big ego of yours.” Kuroo's eyes, burning with annoyance, stared right at Oikawa's, which were shining with amusement.A part of him wanted to apologize for being so rude and blame it on the fact that he had a rough day, but when Oikawa spoke up again, a grin on his face, he didn't regret it at all. “You think I'm pretty?”
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 40
Kudos: 197





	1. Chapter 1

Ever since the beginning of the year, the Triwizard Tournament was the only thing most students talked about. It was finally Hogwarts' turn to organize the event and it seemed that apart from the new first years, everybody knew about it. Usually, teachers wouldn't talk about it in advance, in case something happened which could lead to the annulation of the tournament. But this year, it seemed that everything was going as planned: no threats, no issues, just a bunch of people already thinking about their future outfits for the Yule ball.

Everybody remembered the last Triwizard Tournament. Durmstrang organized it, and about thirty students from Hogwarts got the chance to go there, in order to support their champion and to discover a totally different scenery. Since Durmstrang wasn't as big as Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, they couldn't bring more people, but when they returned, they made sure to share everything with the others. Plus, in order to watch out for any case of cheating, the organizers of the tournament had decided to record the three trials, which allowed the other students who had to stay in their respective schools to watch it as if they were there too.

Durmstrang trials had been _terrifying._ Kuroo had heard about the champions fighting each other during the first task with no explicit rules apart from not severely harming your rival. Hogwarts' champion had been unconscious for four days after that, and Beauxbatons' one had almost broken her wrist. Durmstrang wasn't there to play or to be friendly, and it would be the same case this year.

When Kuroo woke up this morning, preparations had already started. The Slytherin common room, which was known for its dim lights and coldness since a part of it was situated under the lake, seemed surprisingly warm today. Even Daishou, who usually preferred to be on his own until he could meet up with his Hufflepuff girlfriend, was actively talking with others and gossiping about who the future Hogwarts champion might be.

Kuroo already had a few ideas about this topic. It was more likely that the next champion would be a Quidditch captain, female or male, just because they were well-known and appreciated by many. He thought that maybe, one of the prefects cool be chosen too. That could be nice, to see the careful, calm and collected prefect loses their mind for a moment.

Talking about prefects, he hadn't seen Akaashi in a while. The Ravenclaw prefect was probably crawling under a bunch of things to organize such as where the students from the two schools will sleep, who will show them around and how will they study in Hogwarts. They weren't just going to stand around for an entire year, waiting for the tasks to begin. Akaashi had told Kuroo that the foreign students were probably going to join in small groups a few classes in order not to fall behind. Maybe some of them could join Kuroo's, he'd have fun messing with them.

When Kuroo entered the Great Hall, Bokuto and Kenma were already there, along with other students. Bokuto seemed to be talking about something Kenma paid no attention to, his gaze focused on the console in his hand. Kuroo sat next to his best friend, ruffled Kenma's hair with one hand and smacked Bokuto's shoulder with the other. “Yo.”

Their routine started, Bokuto included Kuroo in the conversation easily and told him everything about Gryffindor's new Quidditch strategy before realizing that maybe, as the team's captain, he shouldn't have said that to Slytherin's captain himself. Bokuto whined and accused Kuroo to have stayed quiet on purpose, which the latter didn't deny.

While joking around with Bokuto, he made sure to cast a spell to Kenma's food so that it'd levitate by itself and wait for Kenma to open his mouth and eat. Kuroo had learned to do it this way, instead of asking his best friend to stop his game for a brief moment. Now, all he had to do was to chew what was given to him, without even needing to glance at it. Maybe Kuroo should give him some of those mint candies he hated so much, it'd be fun to see his face becoming distorted with betrayal.

Around him, the seventh years all talked about the same thing as they couldn't contain their excitement. They all hoped to be the chosen one to represent Hogwarts, despite how dangerous this tournament was. Kuroo didn't really like the idea of receiving eternal glory. He could understand why people yearned for it though, but he didn't find any satisfaction in it. He'd rather get the chance to win it and to be able to say _'_ _I've come so far, I'm proud of myself.'_

Bokuto hit his plate with his fork a few times to get his attention. “What if you get chosen? Who would you invite for the ball?” He asked, eyes shining with excitement.

The black-haired student snorted at that. “If someone were to be chosen between the three of us, that'd be you, Bo.” It wasn't a lie, Bokuto was humble, cheerful, determined, strong and liked by a lot of people here. Maybe he'd freak out if he had to face a big dragon, but Akaashi would probably knock some sense into him. “Ah, I don't know.” He looked at the smaller boy next to him. “Kenma, probably.”

Kenma made a face. “No, thanks.” With one hand, he took his wand and cast a spell to undo Kuroo's spell, his stomach full. “There's no way I'm going to a _ball,_ dancing in front of all these people who pretend to appreciate each other for an evening even though the next morning, they're already at each other's throats.”

Kuroo sighed, exchanging a desperate glance with his friend across the table. “Why do you always feel the urge to ruin the fun.”

The Ravenclaw student glared at him, a small smirk on his face. “Because you're always ruining mine.” It wasn't true, they both knew that neither of them meant what they had just said. Kuroo thought that Kenma was one of the most interesting person to be with, and Kenma had a lot of fun hanging out with Kuroo even if he pretended not to. If it wasn't the case, they wouldn't have been best friends for so long.

“What about you, Bo?” Kuroo asked even though he already knew the answer. Bokuto would ask Akaashi, or Akaashi would ask him since they had been dating for a year already. Kuroo remembered when the night they celebrated Gryffindor's victory during the last Quidditch match of the previous year, Akaashi had kissed Bokuto when he thought no one would see them. Kuroo did, and he teased the hell out of them for three weeks after that.

The three of them separated when classes were about to start. A long and boring potion class, whose only interesting part was when Yaku almost blown his head off when he mixed the wrong ingredients together, and other long classes later, he met again with his friends for dinner.

This routine lasted until the end of October. Kuroo went to his own classes, met up with his friends, studied with them and helped Kenma with potions while Kenma helped him with herbology. Thanks god, since it was still the beginning of the year, he had enough time to relax and to play Quidditch, and his team had taken the lead a few days ago after a particularly hard game against Gryffindor.

Preparations for the tournament finally ended on October 29th and for the first time in a while, Akaashi was sitting next to Bokuto during dinner. Kuroo spotted the dark rings under his eyes the moment he stepped inside the Great Hall. His hair was a mess, his tie was loose around his neck, which wasn't normal because Akaashi _really_ cared about the uniform code. As Kuroo sat down with them, he realized that the Ravenclaw prefect was laying his head against Bokuto's shoulder, something he usually never did unless it was only the four of them, which confirmed his doubts. “How's it going, prefect?”

Akaashi nodded at him, a quiet greeting. “I am the living proof that it's possible to stay awake for almost two full days.” He smiled a little at that. If he could still joke about things, it meant that he was okay, despite how exhausted he was. “We finished preparing everything an hour ago. They'll be eating lunch with us tomorrow, then we have a day to choose our champion. The three chosen ones will be announced during dinner two days from now.”

Kuroo arched a brow at that. “Wow, they're really not wasting time, are they?”

Kenma shrugged next to him. “It's not surprising. The first task begins in November, so they need to prepare, both mentally and physically.” Kuroo looked at him with big, surprised eyes. Kenma never showed any interest in the Triwizard tournament, so he really thought his best friend didn't care about it. Considering how Kenma glared at him, he knew what he was thinking. “I'm not interest. It's common knowledge.”

“I didn't know about that.” Bokuto cut in, a pout on his face.

“Common knowledge.” Kuroo smirked.

Kenma's ears reddened. “Shut up, you guys suck.”

The four friends laughed together and dropped the topic. Akaashi had heard enough about it for the past month, he clearly didn't need to talk about it with his friend now that he finally had a chance to rest. They stayed in the Great Hall longer than usual and didn't leave until Akaashi fell asleep against Bokuto's shoulder who excused himself and brought his boyfriend back to his bedroom. Kuroo and Kenma followed soon after.  
  
At first, the other prefects had forbidden them to eat together because they were from different houses. They had even talked badly about Bokuto and his relationship with Akaashi, but they had quickly given up on bothering them when Akaashi _accidentally_ set one of their robes on fire. This was one of Kuroo's favorite memories of his years at Hogwarts.

He stayed in his common room in order to study quite late, but even by the time the clock indicated that it was already past midnight, other students were still up talking about how excited they were about the arrival of the other schools tomorrow. Kuroo would be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit interested about them too, so he stopped studying in order to listen to what the small group next to him was saying. “I heard Durmstrang students were all tall, well-build and really intimidating!”

Someone snorted. “Yeah, well they're nothing more than advanced cavemen. I can't wait to laugh at their hideous costume.”

“Dude, you shouldn't say that! They expel in Dark Arts!”

“Yeah? What are they gonna do? Bark at me with that ugly fur around their shoulders?” Kuroo actually snorted at that, because that was quite funny and true. He could've said it himself. “On the other hand... Beauxbatons students... Ah, I already can't wait to see them in person!”

“I heard both male and female students were good-looking, they're really going to steal the show.” Kuroo's eyes narrowed at that. Male students? He had heard about female students, but never about male ones. Maybe there weren't a lot of them. “Man, do you think I could go to the ball with one of them?”

“No way dude, you don't stand a chance!” Kuroo, thinking that he had heard enough, gathered his books under his arm and went back to his bedroom. His roommates were already sleeping so he tried to be as quiet as possible and when he was finally settled in his bed, he allowed his thoughts to wander.

The three schools would probably stay separated. He clearly doesn't seem himself befriending someone from Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons students sounded quite haughty, and too pretentious. Hanging out with someone from Hogwarts would be probably considered as a shame. He really didn't know if he was looking forward to meeting them, even though the tournament was also a great occasion to meet new people.

Ah, at least, tomorrow's food was definitely going to be a pleasure to eat.

*

A dozen of hours later, they were all waiting in the Great Hall for their rivals to come. The room was well decorated, a white tablecloth covered the fourth huge tables and they had installed their most treasured cutlery. Bouquets of flowers could be found here and there, with candles were put both in the air and on the tables, which created a welcoming atmosphere.

For once, they were all wearing their uniforms correctly, even if some people hated the feeling of a tightly knotted tie around their necks. Akaashi, along with Hufflepuff's prefect, had made sure to check everybody's clothes before they entered the Great Hall and even lectured a few students. However, as soon as they were settled, students like Kuroo unbuttoned the first two buttons of their shirts and loosened their ties, not wanting to die at such a young age. Even with a messy uniform, it'd still look better than Durmstrang's anyway.

It felt like hours before the students finally arrived. Kuroo's stomach started to rumble when the doors suddenly flung opened and a loud noise echoed through the room. Everybody turned to look at who could have so little decency to do that, only for their eyes to fall on Durmstrang's director. A quick glance at the window on his left and Kuroo spotted their ship in the middle of the lake.

And so it began.  
  
Durmstrang were noisy, and their entrance screamed dominance and power. They walked in rhythm, almost like soldiers, and only stopped when they reached the empty space which separated the students' tables from the teachers', where they gathered. Despite how scary-looking their director looked like, his expression changed when his eyes landed on Hogwarts' director whom he hugged like an old friend. The atmosphere seemed to be less tense after that.

One student in particular was about Kuroo's height, had a larger built and a really stoic, serious and unimpressed expression on his face. He looked like he didn't want to be here, and yet, everyone seemed focused on him. He stood next to his director and shook hands with Hogwarts' one. Maybe he was famous, yet, Kuroo had no idea who he was. The only thing he felt was that he seemed unpleasant, and dangerous.

Hogwarts' students, who all had stood up and bowed to welcome them, sat now in silence. Akaashi leant across the table. “His name is Ushijima Wakatoshi. Both his father and his grandfather won the Triwizard tournament.”

“Whaaat?” Bokuto exclaimed too loudly, earning him the glares of the students around him. “Is it like, a family thing?” He added, more quietly.

Akaashi shrugged. “Maybe. Heard they're merciless when it comes to this tournament. He's probably going to be chosen as this year's champion.” Kuroo wrinkled his nose. Yeah, he really didn't like the guy.

Durmstrang, after some introductions, sat down on the empty benches on the other side of the room. Now Kuroo was hungry _and_ annoyed.

Everyone started talking together. Hogwarts most devoted students got up and went to greet Durmstrang's ones, shaking hands with them and hoping they'd enjoy their journey here. Akaashi smiled politely at them, but his eyes were careful. He knew better than anyone else that Durmstrang's only objective was to win, not to make friends.

Kuroo's fingers drummed against the table as he started to lose his composure. He shouldn't have skipped breakfast this morning. He slept in and immediately rushed to his first class, only to arrive there early with his hair looking like an even bigger mess than the other days.

“They're here!” A girl sitting next to a window exclaimed, her index pointing at the huge carriage which had just landed in the courtyard.

Kuroo, like everybody else, got up to catch sigh of Beauxbatons' students, but because of the small crowd of people that had gathered in front of the windows, he saw no one. The director clapped his hands together and asked for silence. Students went back to their seats and Kuroo spotted the slight annoyance clearly written on Durmstrang's students' faces, who didn't like the amount of attention given to Beauxbatons.

A couple of minutes later, the doors opened, but instead of being hit with hostility, they were met with a gentle breeze of fresh air and a faint smell of roses. The director, a pretty woman, entered. She was holding the hand of another woman who, Kuroo guessed, was her wife. A few meters behind them, his eyes landed on the most beautiful creature in this entire world.  
  
At first, Kuroo thought that he wasn't human. An angel, maybe, or a kind of french mermaid that could live out of water. His brown styled hair was bouncing in rhythm with every step he took, his eyes of the same color were scanning the room like a king looking at his subjects. They were warm, and held a sparkle of amusement. His smile, which somehow looked quite forced, was radiant and he was waving at everyone like he was an idol. Maybe he was.

He was tall, not like Kuroo, but still. He was lean and seemed delicate, but Kuroo guessed that despite that, he was probably quite muscular too. His uniform was quite similar to the one he had seen one time in a book: a light blue blouse tucked in pants closer to being black than blue, and a blue cape made of silk around his shoulders, connected to a long ribbon around his neck.

“Kuro, you're staring.” Kenma said and Kuroo could hear a smile in his voice.

Kuroo and the angel-but-also-mermaid-boy's eyes met, and his breath caught in his throat. He was _unfairly_ pretty. The boy smirked. He had a different, more sincere expression which immediately left his face and was replaced with the previous one as soon as he looked away, and Kuroo hoped that _he_ was the reason for this smirk.

He was followed by the other students. Right behind him were three boys, two of them, a tall one and another one with light pink hair looked like they were having the time of their life, holding back giggles. The shorter boy next to them, on the other hand, had an expression similar to Ushijima's, but he didn't look really mean, just pissed off. He sighed as the student who led them waved unnecessary to a group of students once they had gathered together.

“Who's that?” Kuroo asked. He didn't need to show the person he was talking about, his friends all knew it already.

Akaashi narrowed his eyes, thinking. “Oikawa Tooru, I believe. If I'm correct, his father is a french minister, he's quite famous.”

Bokuto tilted his head to the side, curious. “Is he Beauxbatons' future champion?”

His boyfriend shook his head. “No, but I think the boy he's currently bickering with will be.” Their eyes landed on the shorter boy who had just smacked the back Oikawa's head in order to make him stand up straight in silence.

If those two were Durmstrang and Beauxbatons champions, then it wasn't going to be funny at all. Ushijima and the other boy both looked like they didn't want to have fun and were brought there by force. If Bokuto happened to be Hogwarts' champion, he'd shine like the moon in the middle of the night.

When they sat down, Oikawa's eyes met Kuroo's again. Then, they focused on Bokuto, and narrowed. He looked worried for a second, but as soon as someone came to talk to him, his bright smile returned on his face, and Kuroo decided that he must had learned to look perfectly composed. Akaashi got up and shook hands with him and a few other students, just like he did with Durmstrang's before. He seemed less guarded around them, and Kuroo thought that this was a good thing.

Finally, _finally_ , Hogwarts' director stated that they could officially start eating, and the food suddenly appeared in front of them. Bokuto and Kuroo wasted no time and jumped on the meat, which, at some point, always appeared between the two of them. As much as he wanted to focus on the food in front of him, a part of his mind couldn't forget about Oikawa's smirk, and a weird feeling settled in his stomach. He didn't know if he liked it or not, but he guessed that he'd find out about it soon enough.

The next day passed by quickly. He went to his usual classes, ate with his friends, studied in the library, went to practice and slept. The only thing that changed was that sometimes, he'd come across a Beauxbatons or Durmstrang student, and that the Great Hall seemed crowed. They were told that a few students would join their classes at the beginning of November, which created a huge wave of excitement, as Kuroo heard many people talking about how much they wanted Oikawa as their classmate.

Kuroo hadn't seen him since his arrival, apart from when he went to drop his piece of paper with Bokuto's name written on in the Goblet of Fire. Oikawa had apparently already finished, because he left when Kuroo entered, their shoulders brushing together.

Even though he hadn't _seen_ him, he had _heard_ about him. He knew that he was pretty, powerful, childish but also serious, without even exchanging a word with him. People were fast to spread gossips, and it only caused Kuroo to stay in his room more than necessary because he was already tired of hearing new lies every day.

He was at the library the night before the announcement of the three champions. He was supposed to be there to finish his homework about astronomy, but he got distracted not even five minutes into it and decided to read a random book Akaashi had lent him. While he excelled in Muggle studies, astronomy was his least favourite subject. Somehow, even though he usually loved everything related to sciences and often admired the beauty of the endless sky at night, he just couldn't get any work done. He didn't even know why he chose astronomy as an optional class this year, he should've just dropped it.

He stared at his almost-blank sheet. He couldn't remember what these planets were made of, or how were named these annoying constellations. If he couldn't fill a stupid piece of paper with the correct names, how was he supposed to write an essay by the end of the year?

Kuroo sighed as he read the same sentence for the third time. The year had only started, and he was already stressed. What was he supposed to do, call his grandmother and beg her to let him take over her bakery? Yeah, he couldn't do that, not after what happened.

“This one is Equuleus.” A voice said, unexpected and way too close to Kuroo's left ear, causing him to jump on his seat. He clasped a hand on his chest, his eyes filled with surprise as if he had just come across a ghost and looked at the culprit who caused his heart attack.

Oikawa Tooru stood next to him, his hands crossed behind his back and a smile on his face. Kuroo could tell that he was proud of himself. “What the fuck?” He whispered-shouted. “Don't they fucking teach you any manner in that goddamn school of yours?”

The brunette seemed to think for a moment, his eyes narrowing as if he seriously looked for an answer. “You're telling _me_ that? After using such vulgar words?”

Despite how handsome the other boy looked, he really started to get on his nerves. “Is that shitty attitude another one of your features or were you just born an asshole?” He asked, not even thinking about how disrespectful he sounded.

“I've been told that a lot!” Kuroo almost mumbled that it wasn't something to be proud of, but he kept his mouth closed. He didn't want to be even meaner to a guest, especially not after how hard the prefects worked. “Anyway. This constellation is Equuleus. Are you taking a break or is astronomy not your thing?”

“It's not my thing.” He answered. “And I don't like haughty people who think that just because they know the name of a constellation I don't care about, can interrupt me as it pleases them.” Kuroo watched as Oikawa's confidence in his eyes seemed to disappear for a moment, leaving room for an ounce of surprise.

Oikawa's arrogance quickly returned. “Oh, don't get me wrong. I know the names of all the constellations you're missing right now, along with the one you already filled.” He pointed at Kuroo's sheet and snickered. “Pegasus is written with a 'E' by the way, not a 'I'.”

Kuroo, whose patience was almost gone by now, took his homework away from Oikawa and glared at him. He was pissed. He had met a lot of pretentious people like that in his life, and he hated them all. They always thought that they never better than him about what was right and what was wrong, and Kuroo hated that. He was tired of people leaving him no room to talk, because it reminded him of _that day_ and it made him shiver uneasily. At first sight, Kuroo really thought that Oikawa was something else, not only because of his looks, but because of his presence. He seemed confident, but also intriguing, as if under all his manners was hidden a totally different boy whom he would love to learn about. But now, his fingers slightly twisted with anger. He hadn't been able to finish his homework, he had barely read five pages of his book, and a guy he had just met was acting like a smartass with him.

“Yeah, ok, you're a total douche.” Kuroo decided. He put his books under his arm, quietly stood up and looked at Oikawa. One of the brunette's eyebrows was arched, as if he was daring him to speak out against him, so Kuroo did. “I don't care who you are, how important your family is and if you're a popular, pretty and smart boy. Tournament or not, I'll make sure to do anything in my power to crush that big ego of yours.” His eyes, burning with annoyance, stared right at Oikawa's which were shining with amusement.

He took a second to think about what he had just said. Had he just _threatened_ the most well-known student of a foreign school which had just arrived a day ago? A part of him wanted to apologize and blame it on the fact that he had a rough day, but when Oikawa spoke up again, a grin on his face, he didn't regret it at all. “You think I'm pretty?” He asked, full of himself as if he already knew the answer to his question.

Kuroo laughed. Then, he frowned, looked at Oikawa who was probably having the time of his life with him, and another laugh came out of his lips. He put a hand on Oikawa's shoulder, squeezed it a bit too harshly as a warning, and left without looking back.

Had he glanced at Oikawa, he'd have seen that the boy's face was shining with satisfaction and not only because he actually managed to rile Kuroo up, but because Kuroo actually stood up to him even though with his father's acquittances, he could've gotten him fired in no time. What happened just confirmed what Oikawa initially thought when his eyes met Kuroo's for the first time, there was something _different_ about him, and he was drawn to him.

Kuroo, on the other hand, slept like shit that night. All he did was imagining multiple scenarios of him beating Oikawa up and casting on him every single twisted spell he knew.

 _You think I'm pretty?_ Yeah, hell yeah, of course Oikawa was attractive. He was an attractive, pompous, irritating and snobbish prick, and Kuroo wanted to punch him.

If Akaashi could read his mind, he'd kill him.

By the end of following day, everybody was sitting in the Great Hall. His director had put the Goblet of Fire in the middle of the room, and everybody was too busy thinking about who would be representing their school to focus on the food in their plates. The Great Hall was nicely decorated: a few pumpkins here and there, fake webs in the corners, orange and brown leaves scattered on the tables, Kuroo really loved autumn.

He hadn't dared to make eye contact with Oikawa, despite knowing that he was probably looking at him. The other boy would probably smirk at him again, and Kuroo didn't want to deal with that.

As he was about to swallow the last piece of his pumpkin pie, the three directors stood up and gathered around the Goblet. Everyone knew what was coming next, so without even needing to ask, a silence followed. The director snapped his fingers and the food disappeared, leading to the whines of a few students like Bokuto who had yet to finish their dessert. “We will now announce the three champions who will face each other during this new Triwizard tournament!”

Kuroo dropped his spoon, which disappeared a few seconds later too, and an uncomfortable knot settled in his throat. He didn't know why he felt so stressed, when he wasn't even the favourite to represent Hogwarts. He hadn't been using his magic for so long, and if it wasn't for what _happened_ back then, he'd have kept living his life with Muggles like a normal kid. He shook his head, this wasn't the time nor the place to think about it.

And yet, even if he didn't want to, he was good with magic. He was appreciated by others too, he was the captain of Slytherin's Quidditch team, and he was smart. It would be understandable to be chosen to represent Hogwarts, but deep inside, he hoped he wouldn't be picked.

The room became quite dark as a few candles were put out on purpose. When his eyes focused on the Goblet of Fire again, blue fames were embracing it. Seventh years were all shaking with fear and excitement: it was a dangerous tournament, but it sounded so promising and incredible that most people absolutely wanted to be chosen. Plus, it was their last year, so all of them wanted to be selected so that when they'd leave the school at the end of the year, they'd have even more memories to talk about.

Tension rose in the room as blue flames turned red, and the first piece of paper came out of the Goblet. Everybody started and Kuroo's director as he read it out loud. “The champion of Durmstrang is... Ushijima Wakatoshi!” He announced. Cheers and clapping followed, but nobody was really surprised. There was a faint smile on Ushijima's lips as he nodded, accepting his title, and disappeared into the room where the three champions had to gather. Durmstrang's director grinned, as if he was already sure to win the trophy, and Kuroo hoped that this wouldn't be the case.

As much as he didn't want to, Kuroo's eyes fell on Oikawa who was looking at Ushijima with disgust clearly written on his face. He laughed a little at the sight, because it was obvious that he didn't like him. A part of him felt curious and wanted to know why, but he quickly remembered about what happened the previous night and decided that he'd rather eat slugs than talking to him ever again.

The Goblet started acting up again when everybody calmed down. More delicately, another piece of paper came out of it and fell like a feather in the director's hand. Beauxbatons' students knew that their champion would be announced next, so all of them stopped breathing as they waited for Kuroo's director to speak again. “Beauxbatons' champion is... Oikawa Tooru!”

Reactions weren't the same as they had been for Ushijima. Even though everyone was clapping and screaming, Oikawa was looking at his friend -whom Kuroo had learned, was called Iwaizumi- with a dumbfounded expression on his face as if he couldn't believe it. It seemed like he didn't know whether he was supposed to be happy or sad about it, but nevertheless, Iwaizumi forced him to stand up and Oikawa walked up to the director who handed him the paper with his name. He looked less sure of himself this time, yet quite excited, but Kuroo couldn't find himself to clap. Oikawa exchanged a glance with his director, who just seemed as surprised as everybody else.

Once he had left, people from Beauxbatons started whispering until Iwaizumi snapped and told them to be quiet. He looked used to it, and Kuroo hoped it didn't mean that people often gossiped behind Oikawa's case, because even if the boy messed up with him last day, he probably didn't deserve it. Bright flames returned, and it took more time for the last piece of paper to come out of the Goblet, as if it was hesitating.

Kuroo didn't know what happened next, a named was announced, people around him stood up with bright, sincere smiles and Kenma looked at him with so much pride it made his heart skip a beat. He felt numb, and his ears were ringing like they refused to acknowledge what was going on around him.

Why wasn't Bokuto leaving?

“Kuroo!” Bokuto shouted as he grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Man! Kuroo! C'mon! Damn, I knew it!” Kuroo looked around him and realized that everyone was staring at him. Slytherin students were losing their minds, and Kuroo stood up, using Bokuto's shoulder as support, not trusting his legs.

“But I'm not-” He started, his voice trembling.

“Not now!” Bokuto lightly pushed him and Kuroo almost tripped on his own feet. On his way to join his director, his mind went blank. Of course he was an interesting candidate too, but Bokuto seemed so much more suited for the role, he didn't even think about being selected that much.

Oh. So he would be competing against Oikawa, then?

He shook hands with his director, who told him that he was proud of him, and Kuroo left. He wasn't proud of himself and he felt like running straight back to his bed and hide under the blankets until people forget about his existence. The sounds coming from the Great Hall were muffled after he closed the door behind him, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The room, apart from a few couches, a fireplace and paintings of the previous Hogwarts winners scattered on the wall, was empty. Kuroo didn't dare to look at the wall, afraid of coming across a too familiar face he wasn't ready to see again for now.

Oikawa's voice interrupted his thoughts, again. “I'm going to ask if we can select another champion, I don't want to be forced to see your face _and_ to be associated with your for an entire year.” The brunette said, his back facing Ushijima. “You're going to ruin everything with that scary face of yours!”

Kuroo took a step closer to them, hesitantly. He felt like he shouldn't be there, and that he shouldn't hear this conversation. “What did I do to deserve such a bad karma? Is it because I called Iwa-chan a brainless brute earlier? I'm sorry God but please, this is _worse_ than death.” He continued. “This is gonna be sooo boring.”

He hadn't expected the Grand King of Beauxbatons to whine like a baby. Especially not after how he acted the other night. It made him smile, a little, because after all, maybe Oikawa wasn't so bad and was just trying to hold a facade in front of other people. Once he felt like he had heard enough, he cleared his throat and the two newly elected champions looked at him at the same time.  
  
Ushijima eyed him from head to toes, and returned to the painting he was looking at, as if Kuroo's presence didn't matter to him. However, a smile spread on Oikawa's lips, a similar smirk to the one he had first seen. “Eh...” The brunette started, arms crossed over his chest. “Maybe this won't be so bad, after all.”

Kuroo didn't respond, he didn't know what to say anyway. He was lost between accepting his fate and enjoying it, and begging his director to choose somebody else even if it went against the rules. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it, that he'd have to face his nightmares again and he really didn't want his trauma to be triggered one more time because of a freaking tournament. But he also didn't want to be vulnerable, he didn't want to miss an opportunity like that even if it hurt him. He knew he'd overthink it later, but for now, he suddenly felt amusement blossoming inside his chest, and the corners of his lips twitched upwards. Before he knew it, he was grinning too, hands in his pockets.

It was now time to assume the threat he had blurted out to Oikawa in the library. He felt felt like even though he didn't belong there with them, it was the perfect occasion to show Oikawa that he wasn't in for an easy ride and that he wouldn't hesitate to use everything around him to beat him.

He didn't know what awaited him, but all he was sure of was that Oikawa definitely was interesting, and that he wasn't going to let him underestimate him so easily. If Oikawa wanted to play, then he was going to play.  
  
No, he wasn't only going to play. He was going to _win_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, thank you for reading the first chapter of this fic! The story will be composed of six chapters, and all of them are already written so it won't be too long before I update again. I also apologize for the lack of interactions between oikawa and kuroo in this chapter, but I promise, y'all won't be ready for the next five chapters! Never thought I'd write so much about a rarepair, but I'm pretty proud of it so I hope you'll stick til the end!
> 
> I wanted to apologize if the quality of my english isn't the greatest, but it's not my first language so I'm trying my best and hope it won't bother you too much!
> 
> Also, I wanted to thank my friends and especially jade who helped me quite a lot with this fic and who stayed with me during all my breakdowns over oikuroo.... I love you all
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> *wipes my tears away with the oikuroo crumbs furudate gave us* if you wanna interact, which I'd love to, here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/akechjgoro) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Iinhardt)


	2. Chapter 2

Kuroo's life hadn't changed much since his election. Of course, more people had started talking about him and had even invented the most obnoxious gossips about him, but well, he expected that to happen anyway. Because of this, he was glad he had been chosen and not Bokuto, because his friend would've probably been really depressed. Of course, it didn't please Kuroo either, but he was better at ignoring people's wicked words than Bokuto.  
  
So yeah, he was still going to class, hanging out with him friends and eating with them, but sometimes some students would pat his shoulders and tell him they'll be rooting for him. He had already been asked about who he was going to bring to the Yule ball multiple times, and Kuroo seriously had no idea.  
  
Of course, he knew the first task was getting closer and yet, he didn't find the motivation to practice or at least to mentally prepare himself. Since he was playing Quidditch quite often, there was no need for him to train even more than he already did, so he enjoyed the small amount of rest he could get. It wasn't like he was making a huge deal of this tournament anyway. Sure he was going to go through amazing, scary and unforgettable tasks, but he couldn't find himself to be really excited about it. 

“Oi!” Someone exclaimed when they saw him and... Oh, he forgot mention that, didn't he?. ”Tetsu-chan!” _That_ was something new. Before he knew it, Oikawa had caught up to him and was now walking by his side. The directors had decided that the two other champions should join Kuroo's class because that way, they'd have the same schedule, which would be fair for everyone. It was understandable but Kuroo really missed the silence, sometimes. “You could at least pretend to be happy to see me, you know?”

Kuroo raised an eyebrow at him, taking the stairs to go to their divination class. “Why are you acting like we're friends? We're supposed to be rivals, y'know?” He opened the heavy door but didn't hold it for Oikawa, who whined when he bumped against it. Hogwarts' champion smiled, a little.

“I know! But it doesn't mean we can't be rivals _and_ friends!” Kuroo sat somewhere in a corner and not to his surprise, Oikawa sat down next to him. A few minutes later, most people were settled in the classroom and the teacher soon followed.

The day following their election, Oikawa had started to appear next to him whenever he was alone. At first, Kuroo tried to ignore him and didn't mind him too much, but Oikawa had a gift and knew how to get people to talk to him. Pretty often, they'd meet at random moments considering that they had the same schedule, and they'd stay together. Kuroo had even stopped counting how many times Oikawa interrupted his naps. 

It wasn't like Oikawa was doing this to be rude, it genuinely seemed like he wanted to hang out with Kuroo, which is why the other boy couldn't find himself to walk away. Plus, he was quite curious about him too. After all, Oikawa talked _a lot_ about himself, his friends and how unfair life is with him, and yet, Kuroo felt like he didn't know anything about him. The other champion was full of secrets, and Kuroo wanted to learn them all.

They were quite similar too, actually. They were both hiding things, they were both funny and sarcastic when they were together, they dropped all the pleasantries and didn't hesitate to be rude to one another. It felt natural, so even though Kuroo pretended Oikawa's presence was annoying him, he was actually quite amused every time the other joined him, because their facades disappeared. 

Oikawa was surprisingly silent during most of their classes. Well, that didn't stop him from throwing Kuroo a proud smirk from time to time when he successfully finished something before him, and Kuroo ended up doing the same thing. So when they had to read their tea leaves, they both looked at each other at the same time, ready to argue over whose future was the best.

Kuroo didn't expect to see the snake in Oikawa's cup, just like Oikawa didn't think he'd get to see it in Kuroo's either. “Why do we have the same one?” The Slytherin student questioned, confused.

“I don't know.” The brunette seemed as lost as him. “Maybe that's fate!” Kuroo sighed and glanced at Ushijima, sitting a few meters away from there. He was curious to know what he had gotten, because a part of him believed that he might have gotten the same thing as them, too. “Do you think it's related to the tournament?” Oikawa asked, as if he had read his mind.

“It's possible.” He tried to guess from where he was sitting, but Ushijima's back was too broad to let him see anything. “Ask him.” He told Oikawa.

“What?” The Beauxbatons shook his head multiple times, hands lifted in the air. “Nope, nope, there's no way in _hell_ I'm talking to Ushiwaka.”

“What did he do to you? He doesn't seem that bad.” Oikawa looked at him as if he had just asked the stupidest thing ever.

“He.. he's Ushiwaka! That's already a good reason not to talk to him! Ask him yourself.” He pouted and looked by the window next to them. Kuroo sighed another time, knowing that this brat wouldn't do anything to help him.  
  
After staring at the back of Ushijima's head for a minute, he managed to clear his throat to catch his attention. “Hey.. Ushijima?” Durmstrang's student looked at him. “If you don't mind, could you tell me what's in your cup? I think we might have gotten the same thing.”

“Tea leaves.” Ushijima deadpanned. Kuroo really thought that he was going to burst into laughter because it was impossible that Ushijima, the famous, most feared student from Durmstrang, could be so dumb. Oikawa, on the other hand, didn't bother to contain his giggles.

“I-I mean, what do they represent?”

“Oh.” He looked at the bottom of his cup. “A snake.” Kuroo thanked him and let him return to whatever he was thinking about. When he glanced at Oikawa again, tears of laughter were threatening to fall down his face and Kuroo found himself smiling.

For the rest of the class, they spent their time whispering about how _ridiculous_ Ushijima was and that under this scary appearance, was hidden a six years-old child. _'Five,'_ Oikawa had argued. For once, Oikawa wasn't trying to annoy him, he was being childish with him, and sure, they were being rude, but Kuroo thought that he might enjoy his company for real, after all.

Oikawa was about to leave to the Great Hall when Kuroo grabbed his wrist and asked him to follow him. He ignored Oikawa's lewd comments and led him to the library. There were more people than the night they first talked, because students already had assignments to write. They came across Akaashi, who was on his way out. “Oh, hi, Kuroo-san and...” His eyes lingered on Oikawa, then on Kuroo's hand still holding his wrist. “Oikawa-san.”

Kuroo let go of Oikawa and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yo. You're going to meet Bokuto I presume? He didn't stop talking about your _'date at Diagon Alley'._ ”

Akaashi covered half of his face with a hand and sighed. Kuroo could see the faint blush on his cheeks, though. “Bokuto-san talks to much. I just need to buy a few things.”

“What's Diagon Alley?” Oikawa asked. Kuroo had _almost_ forgotten about him.

Kuroo ignored him. “Do you know where the books about magical creatures are?”

Ravenclaw's prefect looked at him with _disappointment_ before rolling his eyes. “You should've known by now and if you had done your homework properly last year.” He pointed at a shelve behind him. “Eleventh row, right next to the dragon session.”

Kuroo thanked him and made his way to his destination. Immediately, he found the book he was looking for. Akaashi's memory was huge. “Your prefect is pretty impressive.” Oikawa peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. Kuroo had gotten accustomed to this too, personal space didn't exist with Oikawa. “You didn't answer me though, what's Diagon Alley?”

Hogwarts' champion elbowed him in the ribs on purpose, which caused Oikawa to whine and step back. “It's an alley with a certain variety of shops, you asshole.” He put the book on the closest table and opened it to the page he needed. “Take a look.” Oikawa looked like he was about to say something like _'why should I obey you_ ' but to Kuroo's surprise, he stayed silent and listened.

As soon as he eyes landed on the book, he frowned. Amusement had left his face, and it was replaced with the most serious expression Kuroo had ever seen on him so far. “What...”

“It's a basilisk. It's a very dangerous-”

“I know what a basilisk is, Tetsu-chan.” Oikawa cut him.

The other boy crossed his arm against his chest and leaned back against the bookshelf.“I think we'll be facing one during our first task. There aren't supposed to be any of them near the school, but I'm sure the organizers found a way to catch one somewhere and to bring it here.” Kuroo took a deep breath, feeling somewhat nervous now.

“Doesn't it kill people? Like, super easily?”

Kuroo shrugged. “It does, but maybe they changed that by making it blind or something. We'll have to be quite careful.”

“Or really strong.” Oikawa taped his index on the page. “There's written that you can control them by speaking Parseltongue or by using a spell strong enough to make them fall asleep.”

Kuroo laughed at him. “You're telling me you're a Parselmouth?”

Oikawa shook his head, denying it. However, when he looked at Kuroo again, his confident smile had returned. Kuroo couldn't believe it: how could someone look so excited and dauntless at the idea of facing a _basilisk_. “I'm not.” He started. “But I'm sure I can come up with a spell that will make me easily win this first task.”

Kuroo didn't know why, but he believed him.

He believed him even more when after this conversation, he barely saw Oikawa until the night before the first task. Sure, they were together in class, but before Kuroo had the chance to talk to him between two classes, Oikawa had already disappeared somewhere.

One evening, after an intense Quidditch practice, he saw him at the Owlery. He didn't know how he learned about this place, or if Akaashi had told him where it was, but he was standing too close to the void. He had a letter in his hand and was petting an owl with the other. Kuroo stood there for a while because even though they hadn't talked much, he had to admit that despite thinking he missed the silence, he had grown tired of it now that Oikawa wasn't there to fill it.

Kuroo returned to his routine, because Oikawa hadn't arrived a long time ago anyway, so it's not like not talking to the brunette changed a lot of things. He had also started to think about how the _fuck_ he was going to beat a basilisk, and he clearly had no idea.

The night before the first task, he was feeling uneasy and decided to go on a walk around the castle. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be out after curfew, but since he was Hogwarts' champion _and_ was close friends with one of the prefects, he guessed that he didn't risk much if he happened to be caught.

He stopped in front of the huge display case with all the prices the school had won. There was a picture of him and his team from the previous year, after they won the Quidditch cup. Kuroo smiled fondly at the memory, and for a second, he wondered how he'd feel if he won the Triwizard tournament, too.

It'd never happen, though. Born in a muggle family, he had already been lucky enough to be a Slytherin, since the house was famous for not taking in a lot of half-blood students. He had made friends, had learned to use his magic and was now representing his school for one of the most famous tournaments.

His pathetic, hurt and traumatized eleven years old self would have never thought so far.

After _this_ incident, Kuroo refused to think about magic ever again. When, one day, he returned home and received his Hogwarts acceptance letter without even applying for it, his first thought was to throw it away. But then, Kenma, who was also a half-blood, said that he wouldn't mind going there if Kuroo was in too and he couldn't say no to him. 

He hated it, at first. Picking a wand was the worst, it seemed like the wands weren't refusing him, but _he_ refused _them_. He spent hours and hours in the shop, only to leave with the only wand he had successfully held without crying. The uniform, the books, his train ticket: everything seemed awful to him. All he could think about was how he shouldn't be the one there, how he didn't deserve it, how guilty he felt and how he'd trade his life without thinking about it twice if it could bring _this person_ back. The only good thing about going to Hogwarts was that he had adopted a black cat, and he loved her very much.

And yet, there he was. The last seventh years had been amazing, he had met wonderful people, he had learned to appreciate magic, to control it and to be good at it and all of that had filled a little bit the hole in his chest. He thought that maybe, he could win the Triwizard tournament, just like this person did.

His soul almost jumped out of his skin when his eyes met Oikawa's in the glass reflection. He covered his mouth to muffle his scream and turned around. Oikawa was giggling, and Kuroo punched his shoulder. “You're a piece of shit!”

“Not my fault you were so lost in your thoughts you didn't realize I've been standing right behind you for what, five minutes?” It wasn't dark enough so that the two boys couldn't see each other, and Kuroo saw that Oikawa was wearing glasses tonight. Just like him, he was wearing sweatpants, a hoodie that seemed too big for him, and his hair was slightly messier than usual. “It's Iwa-chan's.” He explained when he saw that Kuroo was analyzing his outfit. “I stole his hoodie because I know it pisses him off.”

Kuroo smiled. “Doesn't surprise me.” He slid his hands in his pockets and took a few more seconds to look at him. He hadn't seen him in weeks, and now that he was in front of him, Kuroo could easily spot the dark rings under his eyes which proved that he was up to something. “Can't sleep?”

“No. Care to join me for a walk?” Kuroo found himself nodding and a relieved smile appeared on Oikawa's face. Maybe he was feeling a bit nervous, too.

He was surprised to see that Oikawa already knew the castle like his own bedroom. It had taken him almost three years to get used to all those stairs, doors and corridors, but Oikawa walked as if he owned it. It wasn't as cold as Kuroo thought it would be when they went outside, a bit chilly, but not enough to give him chills. He watched the brunette sit on a bench before patting the empty space next to him, so Kuroo took place by his side. From where they sat, they could see the huge lake with Durmstrang's ship floating in the middle, the endless forbidden forest and even a part of the Quidditch pitch.

Oikawa pulled his knees up to his chest and hid the bottom of his face in them. He looked like a child, and Kuroo's initial thought, that a vulnerable boy was hidden behind this extravagant appearance, crossed his mind again. "Are you going to tell me what you've been up to?" 

The brunette narrowed his eyes and the grin on his face told him that no, he wasn't going to. "Why, did you miss me?" This attitude would've usually riled him up, but tonight, Kuroo let a laugh escape from his mouth as he slightly smacked the back of Oikawa's head. He hadn't changed at all.

The sky above them was clear and not a sound could be heard apart from the occasional ruffling of the leaves and their breathings. It was strangely relaxing, and he felt the wall he had built around himself slowly collapse. None of them spoke for a while, they just sat there, enjoying each other's presence as if it was the comfort they both needed. After all, Kuroo couldn't talk about his anxiety and his doubts to anybody because they'd either tell him to enjoy the tournament because he's _'lucky'_ to represent his school, and because he has no reason to doubt himself.

He had so many reasons, though.

Ushijima seemed confident, so it'd be hard for him to relate to someone like Kuroo. So maybe Oikawa was the person feeling the most like him, right now. Maybe he'd understand.

Kuroo heard a neigh, and next to the lake, he could see three thestrals enjoying the coolness of the night. Kuroo looked at them with a soft smile on his lips. He loved these creatures, they were considered as dangerous and horrendous, but Kuroo had grown fond of them. He didn't even know what they were at first, he was playing hide and seek with a few classmates in the forest and when he found a baby thestral which had stuck its hoof in a root. At first, he tried to show it that he wasn't a threat, and when the thestral seemed to be willing to let him step closer, Kuroo freed it.

Since then, whenever Kuroo happened to go for a walk alone, he'd meet some on his way, and he'd hang out with them for a moment. He thought that maybe, they were tired of being invisible and just wanted some attention, like any other creature. Maybe Oikawa...

“Hey.” He said, voice low. “Can you... see them?” With his index, he pointed at the thestrals and considering that Oikawa was wearing his glasses and that they weren't too far, he'd be able to see them too.

But the frown on Oikawa's face told him otherwise. “See what?” He asked, sincerely curious. Kuroo looked at him, his smile turning into a sad one, and remembered that yeah, they were different after all. They certainly didn't grow in the same environment, so it was kind of normal for Oikawa to be unable to see them.

“Nothing.” He breathed. On second thought, he was kind of glad that Oikawa couldn't see them, because it meant that his life had been at least a little bit more peaceful than his. Kuroo crossed his feet at the ankles and looked up at the sky. He didn't expect himself to talk again. “I.. don't want to compete, tomorrow. I don't think I should've been chosen.”

He could feel Oikawa tense next to him, as if the other boy wasn't expecting it. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Oikawa looking at Kuroo with another frown on his face, but not because he was confused. Was he.. worried?

“Why?” He simply asked. Not too much, but enough to let Kuroo say what he wanted to share.

“My friend Bokuto meets the champion's standards more than I do. I voted for him, most people did. He'd have been a better champion.” Kuroo stood up from the bench to sit cross-legged on the grass, his back against the bench. He pulled up weeds nervously. He had never been the kind of person to open up about his feelings, because he didn't like worrying others. So why did he talk to Oikawa? A part of him thought that it was because Oikawa wasn't his close friend, or someone he knew for a while, so it would be okay to speak his mind a little bit.

“You know,” Beauxbaton's champion started, his voice careful. “I don't know a lot about you and your life, but I think that there was a reason the Goblet chose you, and not your friend.” Oikawa took out his wand and, after a gracious motion of his wrist, flowers bloomed next to Kuroo, and even on his thighs. “It must have seen something deep inside of you, something that you don't see yourself. Something that makes you worthy of being Hogwarts' champion.”

Kuroo picked up a flower in his hand and smiled, Oikawa's words actually creating a warm, comforting feeling in his chest. Oikawa continued. “So maybe you don't think you should've been chosen, and maybe your friend would indeed have been better than you because, damn, his back muscles are certainly more impressive than yours.” Kuroo snorted a little at that, he wasn't wrong. Bokuto's back was something incredible to look at. “But some people believe in you, so you should do everything in your power to make them proud and prove to the others that your election wasn't a mistake.”

Kuroo lifted his head to observe Oikawa, who was looking into the distance. He seemed thoughtful, and Kuroo almost regretted telling him about his doubts because Oikawa probably had enough on his mind. But then, Oikawa shook his head, a smile on his face, and his eyes met Kuroo's. “I expected to be chosen, but in reality, I didn't really want to.”

“Why not? You seem-”

“Like the perfect champion? Strong, smart, brave, daring and popular?” Oikawa raised an eyebrow at him, he seemed quite disappointed that Kuroo might see him like everybody else did. “Yeah, nah, that's not me, that'd be Iwa-chan. Even though he's less popular than me.” It was Kuroo's turn to frown. “Sure, I'm pretty powerful myself, but that's not why people voted for me. They voted for me because I'm my dad's son, not because they thought I'd be a wonderful champion.” Annoyance shone briefly in Oikawa's eyes. “Had he been there, my father would have forced your director to say my name even if it wasn't written on that piece of paper.”

There it was, that hidden personality Kuroo was looking for. He knew that there was something under this appearance, and it seemed like Oikawa's true self was finally on the scene. However, it annoyed Kuroo a little that Oikawa looked so down on himself, especially after what he had just told him. “So what?” He said. “You're gonna tell me that the Goblet thinks I'm worthy, but that it chose you because it _knows_ your dad?”

Oikawa snickered. “Well no, this Goblet isn't a person so-”

“Exactly!” Kuroo exclaimed, hands in the air as if Oikawa had finally gotten something right after multiple failed attempts. “It doesn't know your dad, it knows you, it knows how you are, _who_ you are, but it doesn't care about your parents. It must haven chosen you because it saw something in you, too.”

Oikawa looked at him with a face full of surprise, and he seemed like he could start crying any second from now. But he didn't. Instead, he rubbed his face with one hand to gather himself and put his hood on to cover it. “You're so _embarrassing._ Maybe it just chose me because I have a pretty face.”

“Maybe.” Kuroo approved. “Or maybe because you're an entertaining asshole who's gonna get his pretty face ruined tomorrow.”

“So you do admit that my company is enjoyable?”

“I wouldn't say that. It's tolerable.” All bark, but no bite. The two boys stared at each other for a moment, and then, they bursted into laughter. It echoed and probably caught a few creatures and at least a prefect's attention, but they didn't care. They both felt as if a weight had been lifted off their shoulders, and they were definitely going to treasure it.

They stayed there and talked more until Oikawa yawned. They both decided to call it a night, and Kuroo walked Oikawa back to his bedroom because he was afraid he'd get lost with his tiredness. Oikawa was about to open the door and leave when Kuroo stopped him. “Hey, Oikawa?”

The brunette turned around, his hood still on his head, causing his bangs to be flattened on his forehead and to hide a part of his eyes. “Hm?”

“Thanks, for tonight, it really means a lot.” Oikawa's eyes widened as if he hadn't expected Kuroo to thank him, which secretly hurt him because he wasn't that of an asshole, but at the same time a faint blush appeared on his cheeks and Kuroo's own ears grew warmer, too.

“Same goes for you. It was really nice.”

They stood there in silence, Oikawa not knowing if he was supposed to leave, and Kuroo not knowing if he was supposed to say something else. “That doesn't mean I'm not going to beat your ass in a few hours.”

Oikawa hummed, and the expression Kuroo had seen on his face at the library, full of determination and confidence, returned. “If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure about that.” The brunette held out his hand to him, Kuroo took and shook it, grinning. “Good luck, _Tetsu-chan_.” He almost purred.

“Good luck, Oikawa.” And just like that, Oikawa turned around and left. Kuroo didn't know how long he stood there, staring at the closed door with a dumb smirk on his face. If someone happened to see him, they'd probably think that he was going mad. But all he could think about was that now, he finally felt motivated and that Oikawa hand was really soft.

He didn't get much sleep that night either.

*

If Kuroo thought he was already used to being told good luck and all, he sure wasn't expecting all the attention he got as soon as he stepped in the Great Hall for lunch. Since classes were cancelled today, he slept in and decided to laze around until he had to prepare for the first task. He knew he needed to eat a lot, but he wasn't really hungry and despite the discussion he had with Oikawa last night, he still felt pretty anxious.

Which is why, when a bunch of students almost _jumped_ on him to wish him good luck and to tell him they'd be watching him, he felt worse. He tried to remained as polite as possible and excused himself to go eat with his friends.

Bokuto was too excited for the first task, probably even more than everybody else. Kenma, for the first time, was the one to make sure Kuroo was eating something, and Akaashi was lecturing him about how exhausted he looked and that he should've gotten more sleep.  
  
Nevertheless, as Kuroo thought back to what Oikawa had said, he wanted to make them proud of him. So instead of feeling demoralized, he slammed his hands on the table, startling everybody around him and ate his food and even some of Kenma's in a hurry.

He didn't see Oikawa at all, which kind of worried him because there was a probability that he had skipped lunch, and maybe breakfast too, and Kuroo wondered how he was going to face a basilisk like that. As he was going to ask about him, Akaashi cut him. “The teachers have created a court composed of stones, water and tunnels. It seems pretty slippery.”

Kuroo made a face, he was going to look like a drenched cat, and he didn't like the sound of that. “Amazing. Please tell me one of you brought me a towel.”

Akaashi looked at him with disappointment, once again. “Who do you think I am? There are already a bunch of towels and water bottles in the champions' tent.”

“Talking about that...” Kenma started, looking at his phone. “Aren't we supposed to be there in ten minutes?” The four friends looked at each other, then around them, and realized that the Great Hall was empty. In less than two minutes, they had run outside, grabbed their brooms and flown until they reached their destination, breathless.

Of course, when Kuroo rushed in the tent, everyone was already there. Ushijima was talking to his director, not even acknowledging his presence, and Oikawa.. he was sitting on a bed, eyes closed, earphones in his ear and looked like even the smallest noise would lead to an assassination, so Kuroo decided not to bother him. Like the others, he got rid of his uniform to wear the outfit his director had given him, which consisted of a black t-shirt with Slytherin's logo inscribed on the left, right above his heart, and black pants.

He looked like the total opposite of Oikawa, who was wearing a light blue t-shirt and white pants. Between him and Ushijima, Oikawa really looked like an angel who had fallen into the deepest parts of hell.

After a moment, they all had to listen to rules they knew already, such as making sure not to do anything that could hurt the audience. They'd all face the same basilisk, who happened to be a female and who, thankfully, could not kill if you looked at her in the eyes. However, even though her poison couldn't kill either, it was still pretty dangerous and could cause the champions to pass out. They had to capture a golden egg, that she'd obviously try to protect, by using their magic, strength and intelligence.

Kuroo had no idea what to do, so he felt really dumb.

Beauxbatons would go first, then Durmstrang and to finish, Hogwarts. Oikawa didn't seem to mind that, he even looked a bit relieved. Once all the explanations had been given, the directors left, and the champions waiting for Oikawa's announcement, which didn't take long.

Just before leaving, Oikawa winked at Kuroo and whispered _'watch me'_.

So he did, and what he saw was breathtaking.

Once the clapping and yelling had ceased, Oikawa's hold tightened around his wand and instead of pointing it at the basilisk who was looking at him with a dangerous expression, he pointed it at himself. Kuroo almost wanted to tell him that he was holding it the wrong way, but somewhat, it seemed like it was part of Oikawa's plan.

And yes indeed, it was. Oikawa mumbled the name of a spell Kuroo had never heard before, and suddenly, there wasn't only one Oikawa, but five. Kuroo had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, and he knew that somewhere, Iwaizumi was saying something among the lines _'my worst nightmare has become true'._

Oikawa's clones moved and slowly encircled the basilisk, but they all made sure not to step too close to her because they didn't want her to attack any of them, at least not now. Kuroo guessed that the Oikawa who had stayed the closest to him was the real one, because his hands were moving like those of a conductor's leading an orchestra. Once the four Oikawa stopped moving, they all pointed their wands at the basilisk who was starting to understand that he was up to something.

Wind. That's what came next. Oikawa said something else, and then, it became windy, almost too much for Kuroo to keep his eyes open. Oikawa's hair was floating around his face, and suddenly, five thin blue lines of light came out of Oikawa and his clones' wands and were directly cast on the basilisk, who started making unbearable noises. Because she understood that Oikawa was a threat, she attacked the closest clone with her tail, and he vanished. Beauxbatons' champion lost his balance, his magic stopped for a second, but it came back right after and he seemed to be even more powerful than before.

Kuroo didn't know how long he stayed like that: Oikawa was unmoving. He looked like a statue and the basilisk, after a moment, stopped resisting and laid unconscious on the ground. Once he made sure she was sound asleep, Oikawa undid all his spell and stumbled forward, absolutely exhausted. Luckily enough, he caught himself on a rock and slowly made his way to the egg. In the spawn of a few minutes, he had managed to cast a spell strong enough to make the basilisk sleep, and Kuroo didn't know what expression should he make right now. Was he impressed or terrified? Probably both.

The audience was silent, firstly because people were too surprised to react, and secondly because they were still afraid the basilisk might attack him somehow. But it didn't happen. Oikawa stumbled again a few times and at some point, he fell down on his knees, just before reaching the egg and his hand painfully scratched against a rock as he tried to stay on his feet. Kuroo could see that it started bleeding almost immediately, but still. Oikawa managed to get up again, walked there, and grabbed the egg.

Everyone went wild. It was the first time in a while that someone had beaten a goddamn _basilisk_ so easily. It sure had been an easy win for Oikawa, who, after saluting the audience a few times and making sure to throw them his brightest smile, made his way back to the tent.

“Yo, Oikawa, that was so fucking-” He cut himself as Oikawa collapsed again, head first on Kuroo's chest, and Hogwart's champion barely caught him in time. “Are you okay?” He asked, worry clear in his voice as Oikawa barely managed to stay conscious. He could feel his soft hair tickling his jawline and shook his head to ignore it.

“Yeah, don't worry about me, I'm just exhausted.” _No jokes,_ Kuroo almost said, but he thought that it wasn't the best time to tell him that. Instead, he slid an arm around his surprisingly slim waist, threw Oikawa's arm around his shoulders while the other carried the egg, and helped him to walk until they reached the closest bed where the brunette laid without any second thought. “Pretty impressive, huh...?” He mumbled. “Do your best, even though I doubt you'll be able to beat m...” He fell asleep without even finishing his sentence, the egg held tightly against his chest.

During Ushijima's task, he called a nurse who made his way to Oikawa and tended his wounds. Apart from a few bruises here and there, especially on his knees and the hand which he had almost cut open, Oikawa was in a good shape. His face looked peaceful, and Kuroo tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear.

When he realized what he had just done, he removed his hand from Oikawa's hair like it had burnt him, and walked to the other side of the tent where he crouched and whined pathetically.

Kuroo's turn eventually arrived, sooner than he'd have wished, and after looking at Oikawa one more time, he made his way to the court. Just like the other champions, people cheered on him, and it sounded like it was a bit louder than it had been for Oikawa and Ushijima, probably because there were more Hogwarts students. He waved at them and spotted his friends in the crowd but when his eyes landed on the court in front of him, his heart stopped. The basilisk wasn't there.

Before he could react, he saw something coming from the left and jumping on him. The audience loudly gasped, and Kuroo jumped out of the basilisk's way and barely dodged her. As soon as he made sure that his legs were working and that he wasn't hurt, he got up on his feet and started running as far as he could, the basilisk right behind him.

The next minutes were a mess. Kuroo tried to hide, was found and attacked, and he managed to hardly dodge his assailant. Then, he'd run for a while until he could hide behind a rock again and waited for the basilisk to show up. But after a moment, Kuroo realized that because of the impact against the rocks, most of them had crumbled, and Kuroo would soon have nowhere to hide.

He allowed himself to think for a second, but his thoughts weren't helping. All he could conclude was that he was going to die. He hesitated between too many things to make a choice. His heart was racing, sweat was dripping down his skin and when he remembered that people were _watching him_ and probably making fun of him or even worse, _worrying about him_ , he crouched down and took his head between his hands, eyes tightly shut.

He could hear the audience whispering about his attitude so he decided to cover his ears, too, even though it meant he wouldn't hear the basilisk coming for him. At this point, he didn't care. He knew the directors would react and not let him die, so maybe he'd break his leg and be claimed as the biggest coward in the entire history, but it didn't matter. He was already one, after all.

Kuroo wasn't confident like Bokuto, he wasn't smart like Kenma and Akaashi, he wasn't strong like Oikawa. He was nothing, he should've never been there in the first place, so at this point, the only solution was to accept his fate.

“ _You know, it must haven't seen something deep inside of you, something that you don't see yourself. Something that makes you worthy of being Hogwarts' champion.”_

Kuroo wanted to believe him, he really wanted to. Which is why, slowly, he started to breathe. He breathed in and out, and his thoughts seemed clearer now. Oikawa was right. He had been chosen for a reason, and no matter what happened that day, it was time to change that.

He wasn't supposed to forget about his past, he didn't want to anyway. But instead of running away from it, he could accept and use it to become stronger. Yeah, that sounded like a good thing to do. But now... how was he supposed to beat a basilisk? His spells weren't as strong as the one Oikawa used, and he was too exhausted to fight the creature like Ushijima did. Maybe he could...

He heard a shout. “You _idiot_! Stop playing cat and mouse already!” The voice was familiar, too familiar for Kuroo to ignore it and when he looked up at the audience, he saw Kenma looking right back at him. His mouth was still open, he was gripping the barrier tightly and his eyes were full of anger and worry. But they were also full of _hope_ and _trust._

And suddenly, Kuroo knew what to do.

If the basilisk wanted to play cat and mouse, then Kuroo was going to play. He exactly knew how to win, without hurting neither the basilisk nor the audience. However, Kuroo didn't see the basilisk attacking him again, but he sure felt it. She attacked him by charging right into the rock, causing it to explode and Kuroo was projected against the nearest wall. The pain in his left shoulder and head was intense, everything was ringing and the world started to spin.

But he couldn't lose, not now.

So, even though his body begged him to stay down, a trail of blood running down his temple which caused him to close one of his eyes because he didn't want blood to get in it, he stood up. The basilisk wasn't facing him, probably thinking that he had already lost, so Kuroo caught a small stone next to him and threw it at her.

As expected, she immediately turned around and made the scariest noise Kuroo had ever heard. “You wanna play?” He yelled, taking his wand in his hand. “Let's play then!” And just like that, he started running again.

This time, he didn't try to hide behind a rock. He ran towards one of the tunnels the directors had created and sprinted until he could reach the exit. There was water in it, and it was so slippery he almost tripped, but he knew that if he were to fall now, he wouldn't get up and the angry basilisk right behind him wouldn't hesitate to kill him for good.

The basilisk wasn't far behind him, but she was huge and the tunnel was small, so when Kuroo reached the exit, he jumped out of it and cast a spell. “ _Reducto_!” He shouted, pointing at the tunnel. Immediately, it shrunk and the exit he had just used soon became a small, barely visible hole, blocking the way out of the basilisk and making it impossible for her to pass.  
  
Before she could come out from where they entered, Kuroo cast another spell on the biggest rocks around him and blocked the path leading to the tunnel. With another and last motion of his wrist, he solidified everything to make it look like concrete. The basilisk was stuck, and Kuroo had won.

He tried to catch his breath, his entire body felt too heavy, but he didn't waste much time because he wasn't sure the basilisk wouldn't come back for him. He ran to where the egg was, lifted it into the air and laughed as the crowd stood up and made even more noise when he had entered. Kuroo looked at Kenma and nodded, a silent _'thank you'_ between the two of them that Kenma returned, a smile on his face.

When he went back to the tent and saw Oikawa, the adrenaline left his body and the pain returned. He sat on the chair next to Oikawa's bed, head resting on the mattress, as he whipped the blood away from his eye with the back of his hand and snorted. He didn't want the brunette to wake up, but he did anyway and Oikawa's eyes immediately landed on Kuroo. It seemed like he could fall back asleep at any moment, but he took a few seconds to look at Kuroo's face and the egg in his arms. “Pathetic.” He mumbled, but the smile on his lips was enough to show that he was proud, too.

Oikawa raised his hand, his smile widening, and slowly ran his hair through Kuroo's messy, sweaty hair. Kuroo passed out like that, Oikawa's hand in his hair, and the brunette followed right after, exhaustion taking over the two boys.

They had known each other for less than a month, and yet, Kuroo felt as if Oikawa had been there all his life. It was so easy to talk to him, to allow himself to be vulnerable around him, and it seemed like Oikawa felt the same, too. He always had fun with him, even though he pretended not to, and even when Oikawa pissed him off, in the end, he knew that it was worth it.

At first, Oikawa had caught his attention because of his presence and his looks, because in all honesty, he indeed looked really handsome. But he realized soon enough that Oikawa wasn't as perfect as he seemed to be, he was childish, loud, petty, but he was also admirable, relatable and _maybe_ his company was enjoyable. Not that he'd say it out loud.

He was interest in him, and he wanted to get to know him even more. He wanted to get closer to him while making sure to win the second task, because there was no way in hell he was going to lose to Oikawa. His charming smiles and flirty touches were distracting, but he remembered promising that he'd kick his ass, and he knew that Oikawa expected him to do so.

The next task was in February and this time, he'll make sure to get ready properly.

But he also had December _and_ January to enjoy some rest with Oikawa by his side, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't more excited about it than about everything else.

One day, when he'll feel better both physically and mentally, Kuroo will focus on his feelings and on the way his heart slightly tightens every time he's near Oikawa. But for now, he needed to rest, and so did Beauxbatons' champion.

Secretly, the brunette also had to deal with a similar feeling hidden deep inside of him. He had noticed it already, but it sure wasn't going to distract him from beating Kuroo and from going back home with the trophy between his hands.  
  
But a part of him knew he'd like to keep talking to Kuroo, even after the end of the tournament.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Back with the second chapter, I hope you liked it as much as the first one! Thank you for reading this
> 
> I'll be back with the third chapter soon, thank you for staying with me and oikuroo!
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> if you wanna interact, which I'd love to, here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/akechjgoro) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Iinhardt)


	3. Chapter 3

Kuroo woke up a few hours after the end of the first task in the infirmary. He hadn't hurt his shoulder as much as he thought he had, but he had a pretty big band-aid on his temple which had taken some time to stop bleeding. He felt quite dizzy, and it took him a couple of tries to keep his eyes open. The first person he saw was Kenma, sitting in front of his bed and eating some chocolates that had obviously been left there for _Kuroo._ “Oh, you're up.” He said, not even looking at him.

Hogwarts' champion winced as he suddenly felt his headache coming back. He glanced around, hoping to find a nurse, but Kenma got up and handed him a pill and a glass of water. “They said your head would probably hurt so they told me to give you this.” He explained.

Kuroo shallowed it in one go and smiled at his best friend. “Oh, Kenma, I didn't know you cared about me so much.”

“I don't.” The Ravenclaw student immediately responded, glaring at him. After a pause, he continued. “I knew you'd find out how to beat that creature eventually.” It made Kuroo happy, to know that Kenma never doubted him. Bokuto and Akaashi probably felt the same, and the raven-haired boy felt a sudden boost of confidence rushing in.

“What time is it?” Kuroo asked.

“Seven thirty.” Kenma put the almost-empty box of chocolates in the pocket of his robe before standing up. “If you feel like so, we still have enough time to grab dinner.”

Kuroo's stomach started rumbling at the thought of having dinner, and yeah, that sounded like a good idea. As he got on his feet, he saw that apart from a few bruises, he wasn't hurt badly. Kenma handed him his Slytherin robe and a clean uniform, and Kuroo walked behind a screen and got dressed. He sure needed to shower, but eating sounded like a more important emergency right now.

On their way out, someone caught his eyes. There, on his left, lay Oikawa, still unconscious. His hair was a bit messy and his fringe was falling in front of his eyes. The only bandage Kuroo could spot was the one around his injured hand, which meant that he was doing ok too. He looked peaceful. “He hasn't woken up since the end of the task. His director carried him all the way to the infirmary, she's pretty impressive. They said he overworked himself and needed to rest.” Kuroo rolled his eyes, he hadn't known him for a while, but it didn't surprise him. “Iwaizumi-san stayed there for an hour or two, but the nurse said he didn't know how long he'd be asleep for, so he left.”

Kuroo stood there in silence for a few seconds. Then, he stepped closer to Oikawa's bed and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from the nurse's desk. He wrote ' _you suck and your bed-hair is terrible'_ and left it on Oikawa's chest, a smirk on his face.

“You're a child.” Kenma commented, a desperate look on his face. Kuroo ignored him, because he wasn't so wrong, and they made their way to the Great Hall, where he was acclaimed by Hogwarts' students as if he had won the trophy when he had only won a task. Bokuto didn't let go off him and repeated multiple times that he was proud to be his friend, and Kuroo was, too.

He was surrounded by the people he loved, had won a task he thought he was going to lose, had made his school proud, and had acknowledged the light yet intense feeling that settled in his chest every time his eyes fell on Oikawa. It had been a good day, and Kuroo, for the first time, didn't regret being chosen.

*

Oikawa slept for two entire days. Kuroo had gone to the infirmary to see him one day, and he had come across Iwaizumi who was about to leave. Surprisingly, despite everything Oikawa had said, Iwaizumi was a kind, calm and respectful boy. They discussed for a moment and Kuroo got to hear embarrassing stories about Oikawa and Iwaizumi's complains about him, but despite that, he also saw that the smile on Iwaizumi's face showed how much he actually liked the brunette.

In the meanwhile, Kuroo returned to his classes, which seemed longer and more annoying now that he didn't have Oikawa to bicker with. He easily got his title of best student back, since Oikawa used to steal his fame _especially_ in astronomy. He hung out with his friends and realized that he had missed them, and that Oikawa would fit well with them. Kuroo knew that the brunette would probably be startled by Bokuto's energy, but that he'd like it in the end. He was also _sure_ that he'd get along with Akaashi and Kenma because despite how calm and kind they looked, they were devils inside, especially when they were together.

Kuroo knew when Oikawa woke up because on his way to the Great Hall, he spotted Iwaizumi and his two other friends running as fast as they could towards the infirmary, even though the school rules forbade them to run. They all had been really respectful ever since their first day here, which meant that if they were breaking the rules now, it was for a good reason.  
  
And this reason entered the Great Hall thirty minutes later. Oikawa was wearing his uniform again and his hair was still damp from a shower he must have taken before coming there. He politely smiled at the students who greeted him, promising that his injury wasn't as bad as it seemed, and had a serious and long talk with his director who hugged him as if he was her own son.

Oikawa sat with his friends and immediately started eating as much as he could. Kuroo thought that Bokuto had the biggest appetite on earth, but it seemed that Oikawa, after being out for two days, could eat even more than Bokuto. It was funny to see how, for once, he didn't care about his looks and only focused on fitting the biggest slice of bread in his mouth.

On his way back to his common room a few hours later, Kuroo felt a sudden weight against his back and realized that Oikawa had jumped on him. If it wasn't for the strength he had gained thanks to the delicious meal they just ate, the two of them would've fallen. Oikawa, with his arm, put Kuroo into a headlock and he painfully rubbed his digits against Kuroo's scalp, causing him to yelp and move like a dislocated puppet in order to get away from him. “Get off me!”

Oikawa's laugh echoed through the hallway. “How dare you make fun of my bed-hair when I was _unconscious_ while yours is worse when you're _awake_?”

“I surrender!” He said as his scalp really started to burn. A smile appeared on his face as soon as Oikawa set him free.

Kuroo told him about the classes he had missed, but both of them knew Oikawa wouldn't feel lost and would catch up soon anyway. Even in the dim light of the castle, Kuroo could see that Oikawa looked much better than a few days ago. The shadows under his eyes had almost disappeared, and the spark in his eyes had returned. His cheeks were slightly red, and the warm feeling in Kuroo's chest returned as he looked at him. 

Kuroo wasn't a romantic or a man of many words, but Oikawa, in the spawn of a few months, had made him feel things he never thought of before, and he couldn't find himself to dislike it. Maybe he should, because after all, he wasn't supposed to become his friend, let alone his potential crush. But he didn't want to change anything. He liked how things were going, and he hoped that Oikawa did, too.

Their lifetime returned to normal after that. It was easy to talk to him. Since Oikawa talked a lot, there was no awkward silences and the few silences between them were comfortable. They would sometimes just sit together and study on their own, or they'd walk around the school and admire the landscape. Step by step, he started to hang out with Oikawa's friends, because they invited him to have lunch with them one day, so Kuroo agreed. He got along really well with them because he spent most of his time making fun of Oikawa with them and learning more embarrassing things about the brunette.

But then, Oikawa hung out with Kuroo's friends too, and the same thing happened. Kenma would say something ridiculous about Kuroo's childhood out of nowhere and Kuroo would hide behind his potion book for the next hour. He didn't know if letting them get closer to Oikawa was a bad idea, or a good one, but having Oikawa and his closest friends around him made it worth it.  
  
November passed, it snowed for the first time in the middle of a class no one paid attention too, and Kuroo and Oikawa grew closer than before.

They came out to each other during one of their study sessions. They had stolen Akaashi's keys and were sitting together in an empty classroom, hiding from the Ravenclaw prefect who was probably looking for them with an axe in his hands. They hadn't wanted to go to the library because they knew there would be a bunch of other students there considering that teachers _all_ decided to give them long assignments due the same week. So here they were, sitting in front of each other, surrounded with books.

Oikawa had stopped writing his essay a few minutes ago and it looked like he was daydreaming, but Kuroo didn't dare to interrupt him, too focused on his own homework. It stayed silent like that for a moment, Oikawa's fingers drumming against his book and Kuroo reading the same problem for the third time as if he'd understand it better.

“Hey,” Oikawa said, his eyes following a ghost passing by the classroom. “This one is kinda hot. He looks young, too.”

Kuroo raised his head with a frown, looking at the ghost just before he disappeared. “That's Peter.” He explained. “He haunts the Quidditch pitch at night, really cool guy if you ask me.” Oikawa nodded, fingers tracing circles on the cover of the book under his hand. The question came out of Kuroo's mouth before he could even thing about his words. “So, you swing that way?”

The expression on Oikawa's face made him want to jump out of the nearest window because he absolutely looked like he did not expect that at all, and Kuroo sat there, eyes wide-opened and absolutely mortified because _what the fuck_. He thought Oikawa was going to yell at him, or tell him off but instead, after a few seconds that seemed like hours, he bursted out laughing. Kuroo just started at him, listening to the melody coming out of his mouth and waited.

“Well, wow, that was unexpected.” _Figures_. “But yeah, I thought I had been pretty obvious.” Kuroo didn't react at first because he was still surprised by his stupid question, and now even he was even more startled by Oikawa's answer who had just came out to him. Because of his silence, Oikawa seemed to misunderstand what was going on because his eyes looked hurt and he avoided Kuroo's gaze.

Kuroo felt like the biggest idiot on earth. Oikawa had just told him he liked guys, so of course he would be waiting for a reaction, a positive one. “It's cool.” He suddenly assured, tilting his head to the side so that his eyes could meet Oikawa's again. “It's cool, I swing both ways.”

Oikawa blinked at him, color returning to his face. “ _Oh_. Cool.”

“Cool.” Kuroo repeated before returning to his homework. His face was burning and his hands were sweaty, but Oikawa seemed to be in a similar state because he took off his cape and laid it on the empty sit next to him before burying his face in his arms. 

Despite how fast their hearts were beating, they both felt much lighter, because once again, it seemed like they really understood each other more than anyone else in the world and that their meeting was due to fate. In any case, they were so glad they met. There, in this empty classroom surrounded by the smell of dusty books and burning candles, far from any potential source of sadness, the two students felt so at ease they almost wanted to call it _home_.

After that, Kuroo became too aware of Oikawa's touches: his hand on Kuroo's shoulder, their shoulders bumping together when they were walking in crowed hallways, their feet accidentally touching under a table. And it looked like Oikawa was the same because one day, their hands brushed when they both reached for an ingredient in one of their potion classes, and Oikawa had jumped so far from Kuroo he tripped and knocked over his cauldron.

But he also became aware of Oikawa's touches around his friends like the way he often clung to Iwaizumi's arm, how easily he'd let Bokuto put him into a headlock, how he'd let those girls stand _too close_ to him even though he didn't care about them in a romantic way, and all of that created an uncomfortable feeling boiling in Kuroo's stomach that he hated.

He knew he had no right to feel like that, because after all, Oikawa had always been a touchy person and that wouldn't change any time soon. But still, a vulnerable part of him thought that maybe, since Oikawa was like that with a lot of people, he was just one among many others and didn't mean anything more to him. 

Oh.

He liked him. He really did. They had met two months ago, and Kuroo had yet developed the biggest crush on him. He never really cared about love, too focused on Quidditch and on his friends. He had received confessions before, but he never felt like dating anyone because it didn't feel _right._

But with Oikawa, everything felt right. The way sometimes, he'd be cold, Oikawa would be warm. He sucked in astronomy, it was Oikawa's favourite class. He wore black, Oikawa wore white. He wasn't fond of sweet things, Oikawa couldn't spend a day without eating a candy. They were _completing_ each other, filling each other's missing part whenever they were together and Kuroo was craving for more. 

More of his hands touching Oikawa's, more of Oikawa's laughs in middle of the night, more of their thighs touching when they sit next to each other, more more _more_.

Ah.. He really was into him, wasn't he? 

“Oi, Oikawa.” Kuroo said one day when they were in the Great Hall together. “You should go to the prefects' bathroom with your egg. Ushijima told me there was some kind of secret if you open it underwater.”

Oikawa looked at him as if he had just committed the biggest betrayal, brows furrowed and a dramatic hand clasped on his heart. “You _talked_ to Ushiwaka?”

Hogwarts' champion rolled his eyes. “He's okay, not the most talkative guy, but he's fair.”

That day, Oikawa didn't stop talking about how _betrayed_ he felt and how disappointed he was. He even ignored Kuroo in most of their classes until Kuroo decided to poke his right cheek with his wand as long as Oikawa decided not to look at him. Eventually, his cheek had reddened and Oikawa gave up, his eyes meeting Kuroo's who was grinning like a child, proud of himself.

Kuroo had asked about the first task's results after leaving the infirmary that day. Oikawa obviously ranked first, and Kuroo, despite his efforts, ranked third because Ushijima had been faster. Oikawa had explained that his sister was a powerful wizard who had already dealt with a variety of magical creatures, so he asked her to teach him a spell through letters which is why he totally disappeared. He spent all his time writing and receiving letters and training until his fingers couldn't hold his wand anymore. Oikawa had deserved to win, Kuroo was no one to say otherwise. He had trained hard while Kuroo was lucky enough to have a functional brain which had allowed him to survive.

He didn't even feel disappointed, to be honest. He had seen that people trusted him and had _faith_ in him, and it truly made him feel like he was worth it. It made him want to compete and to win the next task, because he wanted to make all those students happy, he wanted to _be_ happy.

When Kuroo told Oikawa about the egg, he didn't expect to see him in the prefects' bathroom a few hours later. Everybody had returned to their common rooms, it was already pitch dark outside and Kuroo walked in the empty hallways with a towel around his neck, his pyjamas in his hand and the egg under his arm.

As he was about to reach the prefects' bathroom, he heard someone whistling and stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't want to interrupt a prefect, because they worked even harder than the three champions so they deserved to rest, too. Nevertheless, just to make sure the person behind the closed door was a prefect, Kuroo slowly opened it and peered inside.

There stood Oikawa, his bare back facing Kuroo and a white towel wrapped around his waist. He could see two back dimples just above the towel and the thought or tracing them with his fingers crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head to ban it. Oikawa's own egg, a light blue one, was next to the empty huge bathtub. The brunette seemed to be looking everywhere around him, so Kuroo figured he probably didn't know how the prefects' bathroom worked. He decided to step inside and help him. “You have to push that golden button over there.” He said, not even noticing Oikawa of his presence before he talked. 

The way Oikawa jumped was enough for a smirk to take place on his face. Oh, how the tables have turned. For once, he wasn't the one to be startled. Beauxbatons' champion turned around, a hand clasped on his chest and the other gripping his towel. He looked terrified, and it made Kuroo snort. “You could've knocked!”

“You could've closed the door.” Kuroo replied, making his way to where Oikawa was. The brunette stepped backwards a little bit, hands still covering his body and Kuroo's eyes tried not to linger on Oikawa slim yet muscly frame.

The raven-haired student pushed a few buttons here and there and suddenly, water started filling the bathtub. Oikawa looked at it, stunned by the different colors coming out of the tubes and the bubbles starting to form. The room slowly grew warmer, and Kuroo started unbuttoning his own shirt when Oikawa's outraged voice rang through the room. “What are you _doing_?!”

Kuroo looked at him with a blank expression on his face. “Uh.. undressing myself?” He folded the shirt and put it on a chair next to him and then proceeded to unbuckle his belt.

Oikawa was looking at him, cheeks flushed red. “B-But... I'm like, right here!”

“Well, yeah.” Kuroo glanced at Oikawa as he dropped his belt on the floor and unbuttoned his pants. “I can see that.” Shoes followed, along with his socks. “If you think I'm going to go back to my common room just because you're here, you're wrong. It took me like, fifteen minutes to get here.” It was a lie. The prefect's bathroom wasn't actually too far from his own common roon, but well, Oikawa didn't need to know that

“I'll just come back later.” Oikawa said, a flush visible on his neck and ears.

When Beauxbatons' champion wasn't looking at him, too busy making his way to his own clothes, Kuroo got rid of his pants and underwear and wrapped his own towel around his him. He suddenly felt wide aware of being naked in the same room as Oikawa, with no one around to interrupt them. His own cheeks grew warmer. “Oikawa.” He started. The brunette turned his head to look at him and his eyes landed on Kuroo's chest for a few seconds. His mouth opened, closed, opened again and Kuroo knew damn well he wasn't so bad himself, but god, the expression on Oikawa's face and the way it was redder than before made all these long hours of training with Bokuto worth it. “It's fine, the bathtub is big enough for the two of us and we don't even have to sit next to each other.”

With that, he put his egg next to Oikawa's and stepped in the bathtub after getting rid of his towel. He stared at the wall in front of him and took a moment to think about what he had just said. He had clearly told Oikawa to take a _bath_ with _him_ and, sure, at least ten people could fit in this bathtub, but those ten people weren't Oikawa Tooru. At the realization, he pinched his forearm to get ahold of himself, in vain.

Kuroo hoped he'd say no.

“Okay... I guess...” Is what Oikawa answered. Kuroo, with his eyes now wide-opened, mentally cursed himself. The sound of Oikawa's footsteps felt suddenly really overwhelming and when he knew he was about to join him in the bathtub, he dove into the water and stayed there for a few seconds.

When he came out, he pulled his hair back with a movement of his hand, for once now having his terrible bed hair covering one of his eyes, and he found Oikawa sitting not too far away from him. If he stretched his arm out, he'd be able to touch Oikawa's. The brunette wasn't looking at him, but at his hands were playing with frothy bubbles that had successfully hidden the lower parts of their bodies. Kuroo never felt more grateful in his life.

He scratched his neck, and they stayed there in silence. None of them knew what to say, probably too embarrassed and feeling vulnerable under each other's gaze. Oikawa washed his hair at some point, so Kuroo decided to do the same, and when their fingers brushed together when they both reached for the bottle of shampoo, they quickly apologized and retracted their hands and if they'd burnt each other.

After they washed themselves and had no excuse to keep quiet, Oikawa cleared his throat. “So... what do we do with your eggs now?”

“Oh!” Kuroo had totally forgotten about them. He had been too busy counting the number of freckles and moles on Oikawa's arms and shoulders and had even noticed there was a small one above his right eyebrow, which was usually hidden by his bangs. Kuroo handed him his egg before taking his own and turned around to face him. “Open it underwater. Ushijima said there was some kind of song.”

Oikawa smiled. “Ehhh? Maybe Ushiwaka isn't so dumb, after all.” His voice surprisingly didn't come out as rude. 

The two champions put their eggs in the bathtub before disappearing underwater too, cheeks puffed because of the deep breath they both took before plunging. As expected, a soft melody started to play and a delicate voice narrated them the story of a soldier who had, one day, drowned in a lake but had been miraculously saved by a mermaid. They had managed to pull the soldier back on the bank and when the soldier came back to his sense, all he saw was a silhouette plunging back into the lake.

Just when the mermaid disappeared, Kuroo's eyes caught Oikawa's underwater. His hair was floating around his face and his lips were so kissable that Kuroo thought that he was going to lose all his self-control and kiss him right there.

He looked like an angel, or maybe this time, like one of these mermaids he heard so much about. His beauty was surreal, and he couldn't believe he had the opportunity to witness it with his own very two eyes.

The fact that he had acknowledged that he liked Oikawa was no surprise, but he still didn't dare to try anything like asking him out. A part of him hoped and kind of knew that Oikawa liked him back, but it wasn't enough to make him take the first step. Would Oikawa hate him? Would he return his feelings? Would he leave him, like this person did too? Would he have to be on his own again? Kuroo refused to know the answers to those questions. He was a fucking pessimist, and it wasn't going to change. Plus, they were in the middle of a tournament, they were supposed to be rivals and to fight each other, not to daydream about how holding hands would feel.

At least, that's what he thought.

They both came to the surface at the same time. They were both panting and when Kuroo felt Oikawa's breath on his face, he immediately realized that they were closer than what he expected them to be. The melody sang by the mermaid still echoed in his hand, and he felt hypnotized. He wasn't thinking straight, they were inches apart, Oikawa's cheeks were flushed from the warmth of the water, his mouth was slightly open and Kuroo lost it.

His body moved on its own and slowly, he raised a hand to cup Oikawa's face before leaning in. The brunette didn't pull away when Kuroo tucked a stand of his hair behind his ear, but he didn't close the distance either. His eyes, wide and scared, were staring at Kuroo's which were empty, as if was possessed or dead and it was wrong, so freaking wrong. When their lips were about to brush, Oikawa was gone.

“I-I have to go now.” He mumbled. Kuroo blinked multiple times, trying to understand what had just happened? Oikawa's bangs were falling in front of his face, making it impossible for Kuroo to see his expression. Was he mad? Surprised? Flustered? Or worse, _disgusted_?

Kuroo looked away when Oikawa came out of the bathtub and got dressed. The brunette almost tripped when he went back to the bathtub, fully clothed to grab his egg. He drenched his sleeves in the process and ran out of the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind him and Kuroo finally allowed his hand, which was still hanging in the air, to drop in the water.

He felt disappointed, not in Oikawa, but in himself. He had acted like a total asshole and had probably fucked up everything. Oikawa was going to ignore him until the end of the tournament who was months away and Kuroo was forever going to regret his action.

Hogwarts' champion covered his flushed face with his hands and allowed himself to whine in frustration and shame, slowing sliding back underwater. Hopefully, he'd drown and wouldn't have to face Oikawa tomorrow.

*

He didn't have to face Oikawa the following morning. He didn't have to because Oikawa _avoided him_. And not only did he avoid him that day, but the next days after that too. He always stayed with his friend from Beauxbatons, and when they had classes together, Oikawa sat far away from Kuroo and never spared him a glance. When they accidentally came across each other in the hallway one day, Oikawa muttered an apology and ran away once again.

Saying that Kuroo felt bad would be an understatement. He felt terrible.

So there he was, laying on Akaashi's bed with its owner, Bokuto and Kenma looking at him. Prefects all had separated rooms and weren't staying in dormitories like the other students in order to thank them for their hard work and to grant them more comfort. It was the best idea ever because he could complain for hours and hours until dawn and nobody would sell them out because Akaashi was with them.

“So..” Kenma said, brows furrowed. “You took a _bath_ with him and then tried to _kiss_ him but he ran away and since then he has been avoiding you?” Kuroo burrowed his face in a pillow and nodded. “I mean, your crush on him was pretty obvious, but damn.”

Akaashi, who was sitting between Bokuto's legs, sighed. “Considering everything you've told us, he probably likes you too.”

“Why would he run away then?” Bokuto asked, half-focused on the conversation, half-playing with Akaashi's fingers.

“Because of _consent_!” Akaashi and Kenma both exclaimed at the same time, which made Kuroo whine louder. Of course he had probably scared Oikawa, even if the other boy liked him back, he should've at least asked if it was ok to kiss him. Oikawa was probably fucking embarrassed and surprised and Kuroo didn't even have the guts to apologize.

“I'm an idiot.” Kuroo mumbled.

“At least you acknowledge it.” Kenma dead-panned. “You should ask him to be your partner for the Yule ball, since it's the day after tomorrow.”

The raven-haired boy sat up, as if shocked by thunder, and shook his head multiple times. “Nope. No. Non. Nein.” He said in different languages, his fourteen years old self believed learning how to say no in different languages was cool. It never was. “There's no way in hell I'm talking to him again.”

“Please do.” Akaashi seemed exhausted. It was already late, but he had still accepted to let them all in when Kuroo said that it was an emergency case. “Because if you don't, you're going to complain in my bedroom for the next months and I'm not fond of the idea.” Bokuto laughed, and Kuroo decided to call this a betrayal.

“But seriously,” Kenma started. “You should at least apologize. You don't have to ask him out if you feel too ashamed to do it, but I think he'd like to hear something from you.” Kenma was right, of course he was. If Kuroo wasn't so embarrassed about it, he'd have already talked to Oikawa. Usually, he was the first one to apologize, so he didn't know why it was so hard to face Oikawa now. Maybe it was because he was someone else. Someone he was really interested in.

Kuroo clasped his hands against cheeks a few times, earning him the shocked gasps of his friends looking at him as if he was crazy, and took a deep breath. “I'm going to talk to him.” He stated.

“Yes.” The three of them said.

“Tomorrow.” He added.

“Yes!” They repeated, louder.

His friends cheered and clapped when he got on his feet and walked out of the room, determination clearly written on his face. On his way back to his common room, and all night long, he thought about multiple possible dialogues and picked the best things to say. He had everything planned, how to start the conversation, what to say and when, how to end it, he even included Oikawa's eventual reactions, so he was more than ready.

At least, he thought he was. But when he saw Oikawa talking and laughing with a girl from Beauxbatons, whose hair was dark like Kuroo's. He just stood there and watched. Oikawa nodded at something she said, she put her hand on his shoulder and Kuroo felt his stomach twist with... Jealousy? They seemed far too close to each other even though the girl seemed younger than him, and Kuroo wanted to know more. He wanted to know who she was to him, how they met each other, what they were talking about and how stupid he probably looked right now.

He didn't know how long he observed them but at some point, a girl from one of his class interrupted his thoughts by touching his arm. His gaze stayed fixed on Oikawa, and he barely listened to her, but he knew she was going to ask him to let him be his partner for the ball. Just when he was about to tell her he had already someone and that he wasn't interest, Oikawa hugged the girl and they made their way to the Great Hall together.

“You know what?” Kuroo said as he burned holes in the back of Oikawa's skull. “Why don't you go with me to the ball?”

*

Kuroo regretted everything. He really did. The girl, named Kasumi, was nice, but Kuroo knew he didn't want to dance with her. He had asked her out not because he wanted to, but because he felt jealous for something _stupid_ especially when he was already wrong in the first place, so he really hated himself even more.

And yet, he was waiting in front of the Great Hall that had completely been redecorated and arranged for the Yule ball. Kuroo was wearing a black suit and the only colorful thing was the dark green tie around his neck. He hated dressing up for official events, and he refused to wear flashy things like some of his friends did. So, just like Kenma, he decided to blend in even if it made him look like a mafioso.

Thankfully, Kasumi was wearing a dark dress too. She was pretty, and the compliment he gave her wasn't a lie. But it felt wrong. He didn't want to be there, he didn't care if the rules forbade the champions to be each other's partner, he wanted Oikawa's hand on his arm and he wanted to apologize to him for being such an idiot, and to Kasumi for being such a coward.

Talking about the devil, Oikawa arrived not too long later and just like the first time they met, Kuroo was left breathless.

His outfit was pretty similar to his uniform. He was wearing a white blouse with a lacy collar that covered half of his neck, white pants that suited him just well and the cape he was wearing was light blue and slightly longer than to the one he usually wore. When he stepped closer, Kuroo spotted a thin silver crown which looked like a bridal hair accessory one would wear for a wedding, but here, it made Oikawa look like a prince. He was smiling and waving at the people greeting him, and Kuroo's eyes landed on the girl next to him. It was the same girl he had seen him with last day, and the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach returned.

For the first time in a while, Oikawa locked eyes with Kuroo and politely nodded his head at him, acknowledging his presence. Kuroo was so taken aback he didn't react and before he knew it, the ball had begun and they had to enter the Great Hall to dance with their partner.

Dancing wasn't something Kuroo particularly enjoyed, and Kasumi seemed to guess it soon enough to take the lead. Thanks to her, it seemed like Kuroo genuinely knew how to dance and he looked a tiny bit graceful.

The Great Hall seemed so bright because the decorations were mostly white or beige. Kuroo, and everyone who decided to wear black tonight, were standing out more than they usually wanted to. But despite that, it looked like everybody's eyes were focused on Oikawa. It was no surprise because next to him, Oikawa danced like he was made for this. He kindly smiled to his partner, lifted her when needed with ease and danced some more. Kuroo almost wanted to take a step backwards to make them trip.

He was ridiculous. At this moment, he remembered that Oikawa wasn't even interested in girls so that there was no reason for him to get jealous. Plus, they weren't dating, and it was his fault if Oikawa had decided to take some distance. If he had just spoken to him and apologized, things wouldn't have been the same.

But after all, Kuroo had never been a great person to begin with. It was his fault this person had lost their life, so he shouldn't have gone to Hogwarts. He didn't have the right to hold a wand, he didn't want to, but since he promised it to this person, he couldn't take it back now. Not after everything that happened. Yet, he never wanted to be there, he never asked teachers to ignore his story and treat him like any other student, he never wished to be awoken at least twice every week by nightmares reminding him of how useless he was. He never-

“Kuroo-san?” Kasumi asked when Kuroo stopped moving.

He was tired of making mistakes. He had enough, he had disappointed many people in his life and lost some more. He didn't want that to happen again, especially not with Oikawa. Beauxbatons' champion had probably agreed to dance with this girl since he had to hide his homosexuality because of his father, he always overworked himself and tried to keep a perfect facade and now, because of his stupidity, he had to take his distance and Kuroo did _nothing_ to keep him from leaving him, even after how close they had gotten.

Kuroo let go off Kasumi's hand and hip. The students and even some teachers were looking at him with confusion. “I'm really sorry.” He said, bowing. “I accepted your invitation to make someone jealous and not because I genuinely wanted to. I'm a total douche, but I don't want to keep on lying to you two anymore. You're a kind, beautiful and smart person and I'm sure you'll find a partner worth of your presence soon enough." He spotted Kenma on his right and he knew he was probably quite surprised but also glad, so instead of focusing on his bad thoughts and fears, he turned around and kept walking until he reached Oikawa and his partner.

He gently taped the girl's shoulder and when they two students stopped dancing, he bowed another time and offered his hand to Oikawa. “May I?” He asked. He hoped his hands weren't too sweaty, he was fucking stressed.

The girl giggled and whispered something to Oikawa before leaving. The brunette looked at Kuroo for what seemed like hours before sliding his own hand in Kuroo's and putting the other on his shoulder. Kuroo's arm encircled Oikawa's waist as they started dancing again.

“People are going to talk about it for the rest of the Tournament.” Oikawa whispered. He gasped when Kuroo lifted him in the air before returning to their usual dance.

“Let them talk.” Kuroo responded. Now that they were close, he could see that Oikawa's cheeks had reddened again. Oikawa's white outfit and Kuroo's black one made them look like an angel and a demon dancing together, and Kuroo hoped people would either see them as polar opposites or soulmates.

“You can't dance.” Oikawa said when Kuroo stepped on his foot for the second time.

Kuroo shook his head. “I can't. It seems I can't apologize in time either.”

Oikawa slightly tensed against him but relaxed when he felt Kuroo's thumb caressing his hand. He wasn't holding Oikawa by the waist too tightly, like a way to show him that he was free to leave if he wanted to. More people started to dance around them so the attention people had paid them soon disappeared. “I've been waiting for you, you know?” Oikawa confessed.

“Doesn't seem like so.” Kuroo responded, glancing at the girl Oikawa previously danced with. He didn't want to say that. He wanted to apologize and forget about these last days, but jealousy and regrets were taking over him.

Instead of getting mad, Oikawa giggled. “She's Iwa-chan's younger sister. She's like family to me, and she pitied me when she realized you lacked the courage to talk to me.” Oikawa's grip tightened around Kuroo's hand on purpose, nails digging in his skin to hurt him a little bit. “I really thought you were going to ask me to be your partner, after such a bold move.”

Kuroo's cheeks flushed at the memory of what had happened in the prefects' bathroom. “I wanted to.”

The brunette shook his head, a faint smile on his lips. “You're an idiot, Kuroo Tetsurou.” Hogwarts' champion stepped closer to him and playfully bumped his head against Oikawa's. They kept dancing for a while, their hands never separating as they moved on all kind of songs. Kuroo probably looked ridiculous, but when he spun Oikawa around and heard his sincere, delicate laugh for the first time in a while, he realized how much he had missed that, missed him.

“Hey. Wanna get the hell out of here?” Kuroo asked as he stopped dancing.

Oikawa let go off one of his hands to grab his arm and get closer to him. “I thought you'd never ask.” On their way out, Kuroo spotted Kasumi and Oikawa's ex-partner dancing together, cheeks flushed and smiles so bright it made him look away, .

They went back to that place where they talked together on the night the beginning of the first task. This time, they both sat on the bench but they didn't stop holding hands. The thestrals were still there, Kuroo could see them from where he sat, and it made him realize that he still had to tell so many things to Oikawa.

Everything was silent around them. The landscape was white with snow, and Kuroo started to think about so different things at the same time. But apologizing was his top priority. “So...” He started, looking in the distance. “I'm sorry. About what happened back then. I know I should've asked you if you were fine with it.”

Oikawa looked at him silently. He didn't want to interrupt him because he knew there was more to say. “I... have never been really good with people. They like me, sure, but I have a hard time opening to them. But with you... it feels so natural, it's so easy. At first I thought it was because you were a stranger and that you couldn't judge me, but then... I realized that it's because I feel at ease around you.”

Kuroo's eyes fell on the thestrals again. “My elder brother was an amazing wizard. I deeply admired him, he even won the Triwizard tournament one day. Apart from me, he was the only wizard in my family.”

“Was...?”

A nostalgic smile took place on Kuroo's face. “He died when I was a child. He had a risky job, and they sent someone to kill him, but instead, they found me.” He shivered at the thought. “I tried to fight them, but I was only a child. He died protecting me, and I couldn't do anything to help because my magic wasn't strong enough.”

Oikawa scooted closer to him. “So this is why you...”

“Didn't want to participate in the Tournament? Yeah.” Kuroo felt the corners of his eyes burning with fresh tears. “My brother was a wonderful champion, I don't want his memory to be tainted by mine. This is also why I can see them.” He explained, pointing at the thestrals. “They're thestrals, you can only see them if someone died in front of you.” Kuroo shook his head and laughed nervously. “I've always tried so hard to get stronger and kinder to be like my brother. I promised him I'd become a wizard like him, but considering how I acted around you, I guess I failed that too.”

Oikawa stayed silent next to him for a while. Kuroo didn't dare to look at him. He wasn't used to sharing his thoughts with anybody, apart from Kenma who had been by his side ever since there were children and had attended to his brother's funerals.

Sometimes, he really wished he could get rid of this ghost haunting him again and again. Because of that, he felt the urge to be brave and strong in order to honour his brother's death and his promise to do anything in his power to protect the others.

“But you're not your brother.” Oikawa spoke. Kuroo frowned and finally looked at him, and Oikawa had the most sincere, understanding smile on his lips. “He protected you because he wanted to, not because he was forced to. It wasn't your fault. I'm sure he doesn't want you to be a copy of him, but he probably wants you to find yourself and to become the person you really want to be.”

He continued. “Everybody makes mistakes. You've made some, and so have I. It doesn't mean you're a bad person. Maybe you think you're not worthy, but if your brother sacrificed his life in order to save yours, and if you've been chosen as the most suited candidate to represent your school, it means that some people see your worth. If you think you don't deserve every wonderful thing around you, then make it so that you can feel like you're worth it one day.

He intertwined their fingers together. “I'm not telling you to change, nor am I telling you to get over your brother's tragic death and all your insecurities before tomorrow. What I'm telling you is that, Kuroo Tetsurou, your brother would be proud of you right now. You've come so far, and you're an amazing person. What you need to do is to slowly accept it, accept yourself. You'll make mistakes again, and you'll learn from them. You're not ruining your brother's memory, you're _honouring_ him. Don't let those memories haunt you, embrace and dominate them." 

Kuroo just stared at him for a moment, but then, a small laugh escaped his lips. He was right, talking to Oikawa was so easy. He was effortlessly sincere around him and just spoke his mind, and Kuroo needed that.

He wasn't going to be okay in a few days, he knew that. He had mourned his brother's death deeply, he was still mourning now and he'd probably still be mourning in ten years or so. He had seen his mother leaving his household after that, had hidden his magic because it reminded him of painful memories and he thought for so long that he was cursed.

But he wasn't. Thinking about that day, were his brother was holding him tightly in his arms even though strength was slowly leaving his body, he remembered that he had died with a smile on his face. His brother never thought Kuroo was a burden, nor did he think that he had sacrificed himself in vain.

Kuroo wanted to make him proud of him, of what he had achieved so far. He had already gone a long way when he decided to accept his power by going to Hogwarts. He worked hard, shed tears and practiced until he could no longer stand on his feet, because he wanted to keep his promise.

And even though his brother's death still haunted most of his nights, he wasn't going to let him down. Oikawa was right, he had to be at peace with himself. Kuroo let go of Oikawa's hand to rub his palm against his eyes after his vision started to be blurry. “You know,” He whispered. “At first, I thought magic rejected me. I thought it _hated_ me because of what had happened. But I realized that I was the one rejecting it.” He looked up at the clear sky above them, stars shining and the moon full. “You're right, I'm not my brother's shadow. I miss him, and his death fucked me up, but I know this is no excuse for what I've done to you.”

He shouldn't be ashamed of being able to see the thestrals, he shouldn't be ashamed of being the only wizard in his family, he shouldn't be ashamed of looking away every time he walks past the display case with the picture of his brother holding the trophy high in the air, a proud smile on his lips. It wasn't about forgetting his past, it was about acknowledging it and learning from it to slowly overcome what happened and get better.

Kuroo had enough of running away from his feelings, his thoughts, his memories. If he had to accept something else right now, it was the fact that despite everything that happened, he still wanted to kiss Oikawa. “From the bottom of my heart, I'm really sorry.” He finally, sincerely, apologized.

“It's okay.” Oikawa simply responded, and Kuroo almost didn't believe it. But when he looked at his... crush again, eyes still filled with sincerity, patience and relief, he stopped doubting about everything. “I promise.” He added, just in case.

A thestral slowly made their way towards them, and an idea suddenly crossed Kuroo's mind. Hogwarts' champion stood up and carefully reached out to the creature who, after a few silent seconds, got closer and let Kuroo pet his head. He probably looked like an idiot to Oikawa, but he didn't care. “Give me your hand.” He said, so Oikawa did and when he touched the creature, his eyes were so wide-opened with surprise it made him laugh.

“Is that the creature you were talking about?” The brunette asked as he got on his feet to get closer. Kuroo nodded. He knew that the skin of a thestral wasn't as soft and enjoyable as the one of a horse, and yet, Oikawa didn't seem disgusted. On the contrary, both of his hands started petting the creature and he even laughed when it licked his fingers.

He didn't know how long Oikawa stood there with the thestral. He couldn't even see it, and yet he guessed the brunette was having a good time. His eyes were shining with curiosity, and he looked almost disappointed when the creature left to return to his mother. Kuroo waved at them, and they were gone, flying above the lake.

Oikawa, who had heard their neighs, was looking at the sky as if he was trying to follow them. More stars had appeared in the sky and the air had gotten colder, but none of them seemed to care. Kuroo thought they'd made their way back to the Great Hall after that, but Oikawa spoke. “Do you remember the constellation I told you about when we first met?”

“You mean when you savagely interrupted me?” Oikawa glared at him, but he had a playful smile on his lips. “Sure. Equalis?”

“ _Equuleus_.” The brunette corrected. Kuroo raised his hands in the air as an apology, because he knew how serious Oikawa was about astronomy. “Do you know its story?”

Kuroo knew that what he was about to say would make Oikawa sigh, but he still asked him nevertheless. “Stars have stories?”

Considering the look on Oikawa's face, it seemed that yes, they indeed do have stories. Oikawa took a step closer to him, eyes still focused on the endless sky above them and Kuroo just waited in silence for him to continue. “It's associated with Hippe from the Greek mythology. She fell in love with a man, had a child with him and hid in the mountains from her father, because she knew he'd kill her and the child.” A low, bitter chuckled came out of his mouth. “She prayed the gods that he would never find her, so they turned her into a mare and she became the constellation known as Equuleus. It's said she's still hiding now, but that at least, she's happy.”

Oikawa's shoulder brushed Kuroo's as he added something else. “After that night before the first task, I knew that I wanted to get closer to you. Not only because your back muscles are impressive, a little bit less than your friend's though, but also because there is something about you that draws me to you like some kind of magnet, and I can't stop it.” He bit his bottom lip, not knowing whether he should add something or not. “I don't want to. I know we've only known each other for a few months but... I really enjoy every moment I share with you, and I don't ever want it to stop.”

His confession did something on Kuroo. He didn't know if he appeared suddenly lighter, or if his heart had gotten so big it was about to sink him into the ground, but he felt something. “My father...” His voice was hesitant, almost as if he was afraid of the consequences. “Would probably kill me. But I know the rest of my family would be there to stop him, so I think it's about time I stop running away from my story too.”

“I'm really, really happy with you, Tetsurou.” Oikawa finally said, eyes still not looking at him but they held so much hope and fear at the same time, it made his stomach twist with anticipation. A faint blush appeared on his cheeks when he realized that Oikawa had used his first name, and for once not in a playful tone. Kuroo already craved for him to say it again.

The moonlight casted soft shadows on Oikawa's face and the stars above them seemed to be reflected in his eyes. If Kuroo knew how to paint, he'd ask him to be his model for the rest of his life. But he didn't, so he just anchored this memory of Oikawa in his mind, and he liked to think that he was the only one to see him like that. “I'm happy with you, too.” The brunette finally dared to look at him and Kuroo purposely bumped their fingers together. “I think I like you.” He blurted out, not wanting to keep his feelings hidden anymore. “I think, no I _know_ that I really like you, and I want to share more moments with you too.”

For a second, because of the way Oikawa trembled, he thought that the smaller boy was about to start crying. He almost thought he had fucked up something again, that he had understood everything the wrong way and that he was just seeing him as a close, _really close_ friend. But then, Oikawa intertwined their fingers together, and he finally grasped what it felt to have butterflies in your stomach. He didn't even need to hear an answer from Oikawa's mouth because just by the way he was looking at him, with softness and _love_ , he knew his feelings were reciprocated.

“Oika- _Tooru_...” He said. For the second time, he lifted his free hand and cupped Oikawa's cheek with it, thumb slowly caressing the skin of his cheekbone. This time, Oikawa leaned into his touch just like a cat and let out a shaky breath. He was stressed, too. “Can I kiss you?” Oikawa's face grew warmer under his hand, and it was a shame that it was too dark to properly see him. When he answered, Kuroo really thought that his legs were about to give up on him.

“Yes, _please_.” Kuroo took a deep breath and slowly leaned in, leaving him time to step bak if he wanted to. He watched him through half-lidded eyes to make sure that this was really alright, but it seemed like he was taking too long so it was Oikawa who shut his eyes first and closed the distance between them.

Their lips met, and just like he had imagined, Oikawa's lips were soft against his. The feeling in his chest grew stronger, more intense, and Kuroo felt like he could fly. _Finally_ echoed in his head, _fucking finally_. The fist kiss was chaste, Oikawa pulled away and looked at Kuroo to see if he regretted it or not, but instead of verbally answering, Kuroo cradled his face with both hands and pulled him back for another kiss, longer this time.

Oikawa's hands gripped his suit tightly, as if he was afraid that if he was letting go of him, he'd run away. So, to show that Kuroo was there with him and that he had no intention to go anywhere else, he deepened the kiss and Oikawa parted his lips with a soft, pleased noise, his brows slightly furrowed.

He tasted like strawberry and lemon, probably because of his lip-balm and the fact that he might have eaten one of those candies he always kept in his pocket, and Kuroo found himself addicted to it. He wanted more, so he didn't pull away until they were both left breathless with swollen, dark red lips.

“You're a really bad kisser.” Oikawa said, and maybe he meant it. It was Kuroo's first kiss, after all.

But then again, Oikawa seemed even more hesitant than him, so maybe it was his, too. Kuroo let out a laugh and kissed his forehead. “Good. That makes two of us. Guess we need to try again to get better?”

None of them trusting their legs, they sat back on the bench and as soon as they could finally breathe normally again, they kissed another time. And another. Again and again. None of them knew how long they stayed like that, arms wrapped around each other and hearts beating in sync, but it eventually started snowing above them and they were forced to part, unless they wanted to catch a cold which would keep them apart from each other for longer than they wanted to.

That night, none of them returned to the Great Hall, and Kuroo not only walked Oikawa back to his dormitory, but he learned that as Beauxbatons' champion, they had given him his own bedroom, so Kuroo stayed with him. They talked and laughed together, kissed some more but as soon as they fell on the bed, they both drifted off to sleep soundly in each other's embrace.

They didn't know how life would treat them and what they'd have to go through, but they didn't think much about it. One was tired of thinking about his past, and the other had enough of thinking about his perfect future planned by his dad. For the first time, the two of them decided to focus on the present and to live the life they really wanted.

Of course, they still had to participate as rivals in the tournament, and none of them intended to lose. They would compete as fierce rivals, and spend the rest of their time as lovers And who knows what awaited them at the end of the year, maybe they'd grow apart, or maybe they'd meet again and exchange more kisses. But for now, all they knew what that they adored each other's presence and that they'll make sure to enjoy it as much as possible.

The second task was less than two months away, and for the first time, Kuroo impatiently waited for it. He still had to keep his promise and beat Oikawa, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's day! I didn't really think I'd post this chapter today, but then I remembered that oikawa and kuroo were finally getting together and... yeah it seemed just right
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading this story! I hope you liked this chapter, it's my early birthday present for y'all
> 
> *mutters* if only they knew this is the last angst-free chapter...
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/akechjgoro) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Iinhardt)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! decided not to put this in the tags, but please be aware that there are some scenes with oikawa's father in this chapter that might be triggering! I didn't push anything too far though and they're not heavy, but I still wanted to mention it before you start reading!

When Oikawa first heard about the Triwizard Tournament held at Hogwarts, he never thought that things would go this way. He had already imagined how he and his friend would be cheering for his best friend, even though he knew he could possibly be chosen too because of his bloodline. He had been ready to support Iwaizumi, but he had also braced himself to proudly wear the title of Beauxbatons' champion just in case, even if he didn't want it that much.

He had guessed he'd be surrounded by girls, and some boys, because his natural charm attracted many of them, and he had already sighed multiple times at the thought of pretending to be interested by what they would talk about and to be _kind_ to them even if he didn't want to. But he had never expected being the one attracted to someone.

However, when his eyes landed on Kuroo, he knew there was something different about him.  
  
And this idea was confirmed when they first talked at the library. Oikawa had interrupted him on purpose, because he wanted to start a conversation with him. He had expected Kuroo to treat him politely, no matter how he acted, but Kuroo actually didn't chew his words and Oikawa found himself happily surprised. If Kuroo knew about Oikawa's family and power, he didn't care about it, and Oikawa loved it.

Which is why he started hanging out with Kuroo, even though at first, his presence seemed to bother him. He wasn't treating him differently, he was being honest and quite rude and Oikawa wanted more. It was the first time in a long while someone treated him like that. Usually, his closest friends wouldn't care about his family and wouldn't hesitate to mess up with him, which, even if he pretended not to, he truly appreciated. But otherwise, students, teachers: all of them would be nice to him. Oikawa failed a test on purpose once, and the teacher didn't even lecture him. He got into a fight to get rid of his perfect appearance, but he didn't get punished. None of them would dare to go against him.

But Kuroo talked back, argued, showed him disrespect, treated him like an equal, and Oikawa craved for more. During that night before the first task, Oikawa realized that Kuroo was more than someone he wanted to hang out with.

At the beginning, he thought that it'd be fun to stay with him during the Tournament and that he'd be a nice entertainment, but nothing more. And yet, in the spawn of a few months, he now already imagined himself sending messages to Kuroo every day once he'd be back in France. Maybe they'd be able to see each other during the holidays, and maybe even during the weekends with the help of a portkey... That sounded nice.

Kuroo was kind. He was smart, funny, honest and Oikawa felt safe around him. He had already crushed on some people before, but with Kuroo, it was different.

He felt that maybe, with some time, he could fall in love with him.

So yeah. Meeting Kuroo changed a lot of things, and he didn't expect that at all. He didn't regret anything though. He had woken up a moment ago and felt confused over how warm he was despite being in winter, but when he opened his eyes, he understood why.

Kuroo was still asleep next to him. He was on his stomach, his face burrowed into the pillow, which clearly explained where his bed-hair was coming from. His features were relaxed, his mouth slightly open and his breathing was deep, the muscles of his back rising at each inhale. Their legs were tangled together and one of his arm was wrapped around Oikawa's middle. Oikawa felt his cheeks grew warmer as he remembered everything that happened the previous evening: the ball, the confession, the _kisses._

For a second, he thought that maybe, Kuroo would wake up and tell him that it was all a mistake, and that they shouldn't be seeing each other after all. But when the raven-haired boy woke up, a soft, sincere smile settled on his face when his eyes blinked open and landed on Oikawa. He leaned in to kiss his forehead, a small ' _morning_ ' muffled against his skin, Oikawa's doubts vanished.

This is how their new routine started. Instead of staying with Kuroo's friends or Oikawa's, the two groups of boys met and formed a new, big one. Maybe it was a mistake, because Matsukawa, Hanamaki, Kenma and Akaashi sided together every time and took pleasure in teasing both Oikawa and Kuroo. Iwaizumi and Bokuto grew close easily, mostly because Bokuto was amazed over how Iwaizumi could beat him in arm-wrestling, and Kenma spent most of his days whining about the fact that his arms could break just from watching the two boys together.

Kuroo sure didn't miss Kenma's red ears when Iwaizumi's shoulder bumped into his when they were eating lunch. Oikawa didn't miss the way Iwaizumi rubbed the back of his neck, shy and embarrassed, when he proposed to walk Kenma back to his dorm after they had all stayed in Akaashi's room one evening til late at night.

It was nice, to have such a wonderful group of friends. Some were different, some were quite similar, but it was making them so unique. It allowed Kuroo and Oikawa to spend more time together, too. But they didn't stay glued to each other. When needed, they'd both stay with their best friends, or they'd stay in their own room. They both had a certain independence, and they didn't want to suffocate one another, so they agreed to be honest with each other and to say what they wanted.

Right now, Oikawa had told him by text that he wanted to see him, so of course, Kuroo got up, made sure to ask his dormmate to cover for him in case Slytherin's prefect decided to pass by, and left his dormitory.

Being friends with Akaashi allowed him to sneak out whenever he wanted. They had made an accord: Kuroo had promised to buy him sweets from time to time and to never talk about that time he saw him and Bokuto making out in an empty classroom, so of course, on the other hand, Akaashi promised to ignore his nightly walks.

This became a new part of their routine. Kuroo would join Oikawa in his room, where he'd spend the night before going back to his dormitory in the early hours of morning. They spent most of their time talking and enjoying each other's presence. Sometimes, they'd kiss until their lips were sore, occasionally exploring each other's neck and letting their hands wander on their bodies without doing anything more explicit because they didn't feel the need too. They had a whole life before them, and losing your virginity the night before the second task was strongly _not_ recommended.

They were both pretty anxious about the second task. First, because they knew that it'd take place in the lake, and none of them liked being underwater that much. But also because it'd be cold, and dark, and it truly wasn't an appealing task.

However, the fact that they were going to fight as rivals again was thrilling. They were both looking forward to it, because even though they had started dating and had grown soft, they still had small arguments, messed up with one another and organized pranks with their friends. They had fun, and they knew that their rivalry would only increase it.

What they absolutely did not expect was Iwaizumi bursting into Oikawa's room when the sun had barely risen, startling them both. “Shit!” Iwaizumi exclaimed when he spotted Kuroo under the blankets too. A blush took place on his face and he looked away, embarrassment clear on his face. “Sorry dude, didn't expect you here.” Their friends knew they had started dating, and everyone around them clearly knew that there was something special between them, but they didn't dare to talk much.

“Iwa-chan, what's wrong?” Oikawa whined as he sat up, his hair a mess and his eyes half-lidded with tiredness. Kuroo hid his face under Oikawa's pillow, clearly not enjoying having his mornings interrupted like that.

“Your dad.” Kuroo felt Oikawa's entire body go stiff next to him. “Your dad is here, he's gonna watch today's task.”

A dry laugh escaped Oikawa's lips, and Kuroo decided he didn't like how things were going. He sat up, put a supportive hand on Oikawa's naked shoulder who seemed to relax a little under it. “Is that a big thing?” Kuroo asked. He knew how strict Oikawa's father was, because he had told him about it a few times. Yet, he didn't see how it could change things.

“It means I have to win.” Oikawa got up, his warmth leaving Kuroo. “Sorry, Tetsu-chan, but I'm leaving first today.” He said as he gathered some clothes.

Before he could leave to use the nearest bathroom, Kuroo swore he heard him whisper to Iwaizumi something like _'He came to this task on purpose, he knows what it means for me and the rest my family.'_

He didn't understand what he meant by it, and why he sounded so serious and afraid, but he didn't want to ask about it. If Oikawa didn't explain it to him, it meant that he didn't wish to talk about it, which was fine. Forcing him would lead to nothing expect reject and unnecessary pain.

He grabbed his stuff too and left. Classes were cancelled today because of the second task, so after taking a shower and getting dressed, he went to the Great Hall and ate with his friends. He had already done some researches about how to breathe underwater with Kenma the other day. It had taken him a few hours of training to improve his bubble-head charm, but when the sun set the other day, he knew he was ready.

The task was supposed to begin at three pm, so after a light meal, Kuroo went to his room to put his swimsuit on. The top was tight and long sleeved, but the black pair of shorts gave him goosebumps. He really didn't want to step outside wearing that. They were in February, and his legs would probably freeze before he could even dive into the lake.

He wanted to ask Oikawa to go to the lake with him, but on his way to his room, he came across Oikawa and his dad, who clearly seemed mad at him for no reason. Oikawa was wearing a similar outfit, except that his top was blue and short-sleeved. He was looking at his feet, his father's hand gripping his arm so firmly, it looked like it'd leave a bruise.

“Don't fuck this up.” Kuroo overheard. “If you fail like _last time_ , your sister won't be there to save you this time. And don't even think about arriving second.”

Oikawa nodded, and they both left, his father's hand still on his arm. Kuroo didn't know what was going on, and he hated that. He felt so useless and he knew by the way Oikawa walked that he wanted some support right now, and he yet couldn't give it to him.

But still, a clasp on his back and Bokuto's smile reminded him that nevertheless, he still had to fight for his school and win this task. Ushijima wasn't going to go easy on them, and even if Oikawa wasn't feeling good right now, he'd still compete as if his life was on the line.

What Kuroo didn't know what that maybe his life _really_ was on the line.

Just before three in the afternoon, everybody had gathered around the lake. They were told that the three champions had an hour and a half to befriend a creature from the lake and they couldn't return to the surface without it. However, it was well-known by most students that the majority of the creatures down there weren't docile and harmless. Kuroo felt his stomach twist with uneasiness. Not really because he was afraid of what he might come across, but because Oikawa's gaze next to him seemed empty, and his entire body was shaking.

Kuroo's fingers twitched as he was about to reach out for his hand, but he felt really aware of the presence of Oikawa's father and stopped his movement. 

“Wait for me.” He whispered just after the director had finished explaining the rules. He saw the brunette's lips forming a grateful smile, which was instantly gone when his eyes landed on his father. It was bad, really, really bad.

Nobody commented on how Oikawa was shaking because they thought it was probably due to the cold weather. Kuroo and Ushijima weren't shaking though, which maybe could've given them an idea that something was _wrong_ and yet it felt like everybody had decided to ignore it because Mr-Fucking-Annoying-Father was there.

Kuroo hugged his friends, and Kenma took a second to warn him about a creature with looked like a horse and seemed friendly at first sight, but whose only goal was to bring humans as far as possible to drown and eat them. He really knew how to be reassuring and Kuroo thanked him despite how much he wanted to throw up.

Just before it was time for them to dive, Kuroo cast on himself the bubble-head charm. A bubble took place around his head and allowed him to breathe underwater for as long as he wanted. Ushijima on his left, ate something that seemed absolutely horrendous but he didn't even make a face. Gills appeared on both side on his neck, and Kuroo scrunched his nose in disgust.

Oikawa took longer than expected to cast a spell similar to Kuroo's. He messed up a few times, and when the bubble appeared around his face, he didn't look really convinced. Still, when the director officially announced the start of the second task, both Ushijima and Kuroo dived into the lake without any second thoughts.

Oikawa's father pushed him, and he fell gracelessly underwater.

Kuroo was waiting for him. Ushijima had already left and if Oikawa didn't mean so much to Kuroo, he'd have started looking for a creature too, because this lake was huge and they didn't have much time. Oikawa's eyes opened, and his panicked gaze relaxed only when he found Kuroo a few meters under him. Once he joined him, Hogwarts' champion immediately wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

They didn't need to talk to know that Oikawa needed that. Kuroo pulled away first, kissed him chastely as best as he could with the bubbles around their head and put his forehead against Oikawa's. “Are you gonna be alright?” Oikawa hesitated, but eventually nodded. “Don't forget that this is your task, your tournament. Not his.”

Kuroo took Oikawa's hand and gave him a bracelet which matched the one around his own wrist. A deep blush took place on Oikawa's face, and Kuroo smiled at the sight. It was the first time of the day that the brunette didn't wear this scared, lost expression. “What are you...?” He tried, looking at the bracelet from different angles.

“Those bracelet are magically connected with one another.” Kuroo explained. He cast a spell on their wrists, and suddenly, a red string connecting the two bracelets appeared. It drew their hands closer until the bracelets were touching. “If you ever need me, just cast a spell on it. It'll bring me to you until they're touching each other again.”

Kuroo cancelled his spell and the red string disappeared. Oikawa looked at his hand, then at his lover, and a warm smile spread on his face. “Thank you.” He said, voice trembling with emotions.

“I'm still going to beat your ass, don't get used to it.” A light chuckled escaped Oikawa's lips, and the determination in his eyes returned. After another forehead kiss, Kuroo swam in one direction, and Oikawa in another.

The lake was dark and cold, but it didn't bother Kuroo as much as it thought it would. Maybe it was the stress, or the adrenaline, but he actually enjoyed looking around and exploring the deepest parts of the lake. It was almost.. relaxing. He was alone with his thoughts, and for once, it wasn't that bad. After getting so much attention due to being Hogwarts' champion, some silence was gratefully welcomed.

A loud noise above his head interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly understood that it was the spell cast by his director to announce that the task had already started fifteen minutes ago. He had to be fast, or else, he'd lose another time.

Kuroo had worked on this task, studied multiple ways to win it. The first task was stressful and unwanted, but this one was different. He had accepted his title of champion, had acknowledged his past and despite the pain and the regrets he still held close to him, he wanted to take a step forward something new.

He wandered in the lake for a while and found absolutely nothing. At some point, he thought that he'd just give up and accept his defeat. He spent some time examining all kind of creatures that were too weak to bring him back to the surface. It was fun, seeing them, but Kuroo really needed to find a solution right now.

Suddenly, on his right, he saw a black figure and when he looked at it, the horse Kenma talked about appeared in front of his eyes. Kuroo didn't move, or breathe. He knew that this creature was dangerous, maybe the most dangerous one in this goddamn lake. If he happened to lower his guard, he'd never see the sun again.

Kuroo hoped that he had been the only one to come across this creature, also known as a Kelpie. Oikawa probably didn't know about it, and even if he did, he perhaps didn't know how to render it harmless. Kuroo, on the other hand, did.

If the Kelpie pretended to be friendly at first, Kuroo knew that one small thing could fuck everything up. So instead of showing that he was quite afraid of it, Kuroo slowly swam closer, extended his hand, and waited for the creature to close the distance between them by nuzzling against his palm. Kuroo swam around it for a few minutes, never getting onto its back because it'd be life-threatening.

The Kelpie's skin was dark, quite sticky and it looked like its mane was made of seaweeds. Kuroo suddenly missed his thestrals, because at least, they didn't plan to kill him. Or maybe they did, Kuroo didn't know.

When he felt he had gained the creature's trust, he used a placement charm and put a bridle over its head. The creature, clearly not expecting this, was about to run away when Kuroo got onto its back and grabbed the reins. He didn't want to hurt the creature despite how obvious its hatred for him was, so instead of harshly pulling the reins, Kuroo simply held them and tried his best to stay onto the Kelpie's back.

The creature moved so much and tried to bite him, and Kuroo thought multiple times that he would die right here, with a broken backbone. After what seemed like hours, but which was really just five minutes, the Kelpie seemed to settle down and eventually stopped resisting, waiting for Kuroo to bring him whenever he wanted to. Kuroo's grip loosened on the reins, and he breathlessly pet the creature's sticky mane with one hand. When it finally understood that Kuroo meant no harm, its skin turned white and started to glow, illuminating everything around them.

He still had plenty of time, and nothing had announced someone's victory or defeat yet. He couldn't wait to see Oikawa's face when he'd come back to the surface. That would shut him up for at least an hour or two, because the brunette was a terrible sore loser. Kuroo was so proud of himself, and he thought about sincerely enjoying his victory for once. But just when he was about to swim back to the surface with the Kelpie, something tugged at his wrist.

The red string connecting his bracelet to Oikawa was glowing, and it disappeared far away in the darkness of the lake. Kuroo's heart stopped beating for a moment, and he found himself unable to move at first, but when he realized that Oikawa was probably in danger, he grabbed the reins again and begged for the creature to reach his lover as fast as possible.

Soon enough, he could see the end of the red string and there he found Oikawa. He seemed to be struggling against something and when he was only a few meters away from him, Kuroo saw two grindylows around him. They were holding both his wrists and his ankles, and on his right, there was a mermaid who seemed like she wanted to help him, but she was herself restrained by another grindylow's tentacles.

What was worse, was the fact that Oikawa's bubble was no longer around his head.

He was struggling and fighting back against the grindylows, and yet at the same time he was drowning, and something snapped inside Kuroo. “Oikawa!” He shouted, though most of his voice was muffled by his own bubble around his head.

Oikawa looked at him with terrified gaze and puffed cheeks, holding as much air as possible in his lungs. Kuroo knew that it was only a matter of time before he'd open his mouth and fill his lungs with water.

Hogwarts' student took out his wand and cast a spell on the two grindylows around Oikawa. They didn't move at first, one of them even leaving Oikawa's side to attack Kuroo but thankfully, the Kelpie scared it away. Kuroo cast another, stronger spell, and this time, they vanished. The one holding the mermaid ran away too, and Kuroo took it as an opportunity to reach out to Oikawa. He quickly used the bubble-head charm on him again, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when Oikawa inhaled and exhaled again, shaking from exhaustion.

“Oikawa, hey, _baby_.” Kuroo softly crawled Beauxbatons' champion's face between his hands, thumbs tracing encouraging circles on his cheekbones. He connected their bubbles together so that he'd hear him more clearly. “Look at me, it's okay, they're gone.” Oikawa looked around at first, to make sure Kuroo wasn't lying, and light seemed to return in his eyes when he realized the mermaid was safe, too. She had swum a few meters under them to grab Oikawa's wand back. “Breathe with me. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, another time.”

He repeated those words until Oikawa's breathing was back to normal, though a bit too shaky. He wrapped his trembling arms around Kuroo's neck, who protectively stroked his back. Eventually, Oikawa's body stopped shaking and he faced Kuroo again, who took it as an opportunity to link their fingers together. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Oikawa nodded and carefully answered. “I found Mira, the mermaid you saw. We... were talking, and when I asked her to go back to the surface with me, something, those creatures, grabbed her.” He frowned at the memory, and it made Kuroo's chest tighten uncomfortably. “I tried to protect her, but they grabbed me too and began to draw us down. I managed to activate the bracelet, and if it weren't for you, I'd have probably drowned again.”

It was Kuroo's turn to frown now. “Again?” He asked.

Oikawa put his head against Kuroo's collarbones. He was probably exhausted, and Kuroo almost regretted asking this question. “A few years ago, my family and I went on a trip and my dad forced my sister and I to go underwater in a lake to train with some creatures.” Kuroo hummed, waiting for him to continue. “I told you my sister is amazing with creatures, but I'm not. Not really. One of them attacked me. It destroyed the equipment which allowed me to breathe and if my sister hadn't decided to check on me, I'd have died there.” His grip on Kuroo's fingers tightened so much it almost hurt, but Kuroo didn't pull back. “My father saw everything, and yet, he didn't move an inch. He waited to see if I could win this fight, but I didn't, and all he said to me when my sister brought me back to the surface was that I had disappointed him.”

Kuroo started at him in awe for a few seconds. His mind slowly interpreting Oikawa's heartbreaking story, and when he realized how awful it was, he hugged him close. He didn't say anything at first, because there was nothing to say. Telling him that his father was a terrible one would be nothing new to Oikawa. Instead, he pulled him closer and pressed his lips against his forehead, a silent promise of never letting him near his father again.

Kuroo had the chance to be blessed with a loving family. His mother had left them, but his father loved him plenty. His grandparents were still alive and cared about him a lot, and despite the loss of his brother, his family was still united. Oikawa's family looked like the perfect one at first glance, but with an abusive father, it was no surprise that his sister decided to live her own life far away from him. It was only him and his mother, and Oikawa probably felt the urge to protect her.

Oikawa held him like he was afraid he'd drown without Kuroo, and it broke his heart.

A sudden noise startled them both, forcing them apart. They didn't have much time left before the end of the task, and Ushijima hadn't returned to the surface either. Maybe he was struggling on his own. “Listen.” Kuroo started, eyes focused on Oikawa's. “We're going to go back to the surface, and you're gonna show your father how strong you are on your own. Then, he'll leave, and you won't have to worry about him again.” He took his face between his hands and touched his forehead with his own. “I promise I'll make sure he doesn't get near you.”

Oikawa bit his bottom lip nervously, then nodded. He could trust Kuroo, especially in a moment like that. He was gentle, patient and really just wanted him to be happy. His eyes were determined, and Oikawa could feel his shoulders slowly relaxing. “Okay.” Kuroo kissed his forehead another time before turning to the mermaid who had been watching them in silence, her gaze full of admiration. “You go first, it's your win today. I would've been forced to abandon if you hadn't helped us.”

Kuroo seemed to hesitate, a little bit anxious at the idea of winning a task when he ranked third last time. But that was Oikawa's wish, and a part of him knew he deserved this victory after all, so he nodded and settled on the creature's back again.

Oikawa spoke just before he left. “I'll definitely win the next task, and the tournament, _Tetsu-chan_.”

A snicker came out of Kuroo's lips as he replied: “I'm looking forward to it.”

Just like that, he was gone. He begged the horse to return as quickly as possible to the surface, firstly because he wanted to win, and secondly because he was tired of behind underwater. It only took a few seconds, and then, the horse jumped out of the water and cheers echoed.

“The winner of the second task is the champion of Hogwarts, Kuroo Tetsurou!” His director announced, voice loud and proud.

He thanked the horse, smile so big he thought he'd dislocate his jaw, and swam back to where everybody was waiting for him. Kenma and Akaashi wasted no time and covered him with warm towels, as Bokuto hugged him and yelled things like _'I knew you could do it!'_

For once, instead of not accepting his role and Hogwarts' champion, he proudly wore it. He politely nodded his head when people complimented and congratulated him, his smile still present and... Oh, he was _happy_. He thought that maybe, that's how his brother felt, too. Kuroo wanted more. He wanted to know how he felt when he celebrated, when he trained days and nights, and when he _won_.

Cheers echoed again, and this time, Oikawa returned to the surface in the arms of the mermaid who was carrying him. Kuroo immediately helped him to get out of the water and hugged him again. Nobody was much surprised about it, they had all seen how close the two champions had gotten in the last few months, and even if only a few of their peers knew that they were dating, others were just glad that such a huge 'friendship' connected the two of them.

Ushijima arrived only a matter of seconds later. He was thrown out of the water by what seemed to be a huge squid, and it looked like it was more than happy to get rid of Durmstrang's champion. Soon, the three champions were all side by side, waiting for the director to announce the results again. Iwaizumi had a hand on Oikawa's shoulder: he probably knew how bad this task must have been for him, and it was his way of saying _'I'm proud of you.'_ Kuroo was so glad Oikawa had a friend like him.

The director announced that Kuroo had won the first place, and another wave of clapping rose. Kuroo felt a bit self-conscious and tried to dismiss it as fast as possible, but just when the director was about to focus on Oikawa's result, said champion raised his hand in the air to talk. “I'd like for Ushiwa- _Ushijima-san_ to be considered as the second winner of this task. I lost it fair and square and I deserve, no, I _want_ to be ranked third.”

Eyes widened, whispers spread, and even Kuroo looked at him with a confused expression on his face, but Oikawa was impassible. “If it wasn't for Kuroo-san, I'd have lost anyway.” He added, briefly glancing to Hogwarts' champion on his right and giving him a thankful nod of the head.

“Is it was you truly want?” The director asked, and Oikawa hummed as a confirmation. The three directors talked together for a moment before nodding. “Alright then.” Ushijima was ranked second, and Oikawa third. Nevertheless, his smile seemed grateful, almost relived.

That is, until his father stepped in. “Unacceptable!” He shouted before he made his way to where the three champions were standing. “Are you trying to _humiliate_ me?” Oikawa instinctively raised his arms to protect his face from an eventual blow, and it hurt Kuroo to witness that.

“Sir...” Beauxbatons' director tried.

Oikawa's father grabbed his wrist to push it away from his face. Iwaizumi was frozen next to him, and so was everybody else, even Kuroo. Oikawa's father was intense, his presence was threatening and everybody knew that their lives and their parents' as wizards could probably be ruined because of one single man. And yet, when his grip on his son's wrist tightened so much his knuckles turned white and that Oikawa whined in pain, Kuroo decided he couldn't just stay there and do nothing.

His body was moving on his own, and his brain was completely shut off. His own hand found itself wrapped around Oikawa's father's forearm, and he stood between them, hiding Oikawa behind his own body. “Your son doesn't need your approval, it's his decision and all you have to do is to respect it.”

Oikawa's father tilted his head to the side, a sadistic smile on his lips. “What are you, his knight in shining armour?”

“Oikawa doesn't need me to protect him, he's strong enough to take care of himself.” Kuroo retorted, because that was true. If the person standing in front of him wasn't the one Oikawa feared the most, the brunette would've already called them off long ago.

His father seemed unimpressed. “Oh? And what exactly do you think you're doing right now?”

A smirk appeared on Kuroo's face, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I'm showing everyone how much of a piece of trash you are.” And just like that, for the first time, Oikawa's father seemed startled. He looked around and, as expected, people were muttering things about how scary he looked, and that considering Oikawa's reaction, it probably wasn't the first time something like that happened. Students with their phones and reporters, who had come for the tournament, had recorded the whole thing, too.

Kuroo knew Oikawa's father couldn't do anything to his family, considering that they were muggles. He himself had nothing to lose, and if the man dared to lay a hand on him or Oikawa, witnesses would be there to stop and pursue him. Oikawa's father let go of his son and bumped his shoulder with Kuroo's as he walked away, not even sparing a glance at the brunette.

“Are you okay?” Kuroo immediately asked once he was gone. He gently took Oikawa's wrist in his hands and rubbed the skin with his thumbs to smooth it. Around them, people started to make their way back to the school. He saw Iwaizumi mouthing _'thank you_ ' at him before leaving too, and soon, they were alone again. “Here, let's get rid of those ridiculous swimsuits." 

After they both changed into the warm, comfortable clothes their friends had left behind, Kuroo wrapped his arms around the other again until his body stopped shaking. He was surprised by himself, because he really thought that he wouldn't dare to stand up for Oikawa at first. His father was... more than what he expected, his gaze alone could kill. 

But when the boy whined in pain and fear, and when he thought again of the promise he had made back when they were underwater, his body moved automatically. He wasn't sure he wouldn't have stood up that way for someone he had met less than half a year ago, and started dating two months ago. And yet, with Oikawa, he felt like everything what different from what he had imagined. “Thank you.” Oikawa whispered against his neck, voice weak.

Kuroo kept rubbing his palm against his back until the other boy felt good enough to step out of his arms and walk back to school. They held hands until they reached Oikawa's room. Usually, champions would celebrate and eat a feast right now, but Kuroo felt like Oikawa needed to be alone for a moment, or at least with his friends. He was probably both physically and emotionally drained.

Oikawa kissed the corner of his lips, not daring to kiss him in case someone happened to see them. He usually didn't care about public affection, but after a day like this one, he felt vulnerable and didn't want to be even more the centre of attention. “I'll see you tomorrow.” He said, more a question than a statement and Kuroo nodded. They had class together, anyway.

“Sure. Get some rest.” The other boy opened the door leading to his bedroom and here, in the dimly lit hallway, Oikawa seemed so small and ready to start crying any time, it made Kuroo's stomach twist. “Tooru.” Hogwarts' champion looked around nervously as Oikawa turned around to look at him, waiting for him to pursue with interest. “Erm... I mean... You're free next Friday right? We don't have class in the afternoon, and I thought that maybe... We could... I mean there's this place and...” He felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment. They had been dating for two months, he knew how to kiss him by heart and yet, he was still shy at the idea of asking him out on their first date.

Oikawa softly snickered though, so it was worth it. He had managed to make him laugh, even if it laster for a short second, and it was enough to make him feel warm again. Kuroo dared to look at him, a similar, loving smile to Oikawa's taking place on his face. “Yes, Tetsurou, I'd love to go on a date with you.” The brunette let go of the door's handle to step closer again and this time, he kissed him on the mouth. It was far too chaste for Kuroo, who was still quite shocked about what had just happened and hadn't even closed his eyes. “See you tomorrow.”

And just like that, Oikawa closed the door behind him and left Kuroo with his heart beating so loudly it could probably be heard by anybody passing by him right now. Sure, they had been on some kind of dates together, they studied together in the library, walked around school after lunch, spent some evenings and nights in Oikawa's bedroom, took naps under a tree when the weather allowed them to. But they often had been joined by their friends, so they weren't really alone together for long.

Friday would be their first, official date together, and Kuroo could already feel the excitement and anticipation settling in his chest.

*

The rest of the week went by fast enough. Everybody had already slowly started studying for the finals at the end of the year. Kuroo knew he'd probably graduate without any major difficulty, so he allowed himself to take some time off.

Today, he was nervously waiting for Oikawa in front of the school's entrance. Because they didn't have any class and didn't stay at school, they could wear casual clothes for once and Kuroo realized that it might be the first time he and Oikawa would be dressed up casually. He made sure to choose his best outfit which was simply composed of black jeans, a dark-green hoodie and a black denim jacket, the white fur around his collar allowing him to stay warm. He was wearing gloves, too, and he was kinda sad at the idea of his skin not directly touching Oikawa's, but he didn't want his fingers to freeze.

Oikawa joined him a couple of minutes later, dressed in similar black jeans, a turtleneck of the same color, camel coat and a beanie on his head, causing his bangs to fall even more in front of his eyes. He was breathtaking, and Kuroo already knew that this was going to be a good afternoon.

Conversation flown easily as they walked until they reached Hogsmead. It was more lively than most places around Hogwarts because a lot of students came there during their days off to have some fun. More shops and pubs had opened, and the atmosphere was overall really welcoming. Oikawa looked around them with stars in his eyes. He looked like a child discovering a new place, and Kuroo was glad to see that he looked much better than the previous days.

His father's unexpected visit had been kind of tough on him. After the second task, Oikawa flinched at every sudden movement so Kuroo made sure to either ask him if he could touch him or to reach out and let Oikawa close the distance between them if he wanted too. That seemed to help, because after a day or two, Oikawa was mostly back to normal. 

They decided to go shopping first. Oikawa made him try all kinds of ridiculous outfits, and Kuroo couldn't help but follow his orders because the sound of Oikawa's laugh made it all worth it. "You're so not cute." Kuroo said when Oikawa tried ugly heart-shaped glasses on.

"You're so lying."

"Am not."

"You're literally smiling right now." Oikawa took a step closer and put his indexes on the corners of Kuroo's mouth which were indeed turned upwards. His smile grew wider and he didn't even try to suppress it. "You like me a lot." Oikawa noted.

"I do." Kuroo naturally answered, taking Oikawa's glasses away from him and putting them on his own face. "I really do." He repeated as Oikawa whined, cheeks flushed, about how _shameless_ he was and that he hated him for being such a sap. They ended up buying a few things, including those glasses, and Kuroo tried to fight back a blush when Oikawa proposed to buy matching t-shirts.

Oikawa still wore the bracelet Kuroo had given him during the second task, so he decided to keep his too.

It was easy, to go on a date with Oikawa. Fascinated by everything around him, Oikawa would just ask Kuroo to go here and there which allowed his lover not too overthink too much about whether he enjoyed their date or not. Kuroo knew he could've easily started doubting whether Oikawa genuinely enjoyed being with him or not, but he decided not to let his thoughts take over him for once and to focus on his partner.

Oikawa made sure to stop at the famous tea shop where a lot of couples spent their dates in, but in the end, everything seemed too lovely-dovey and it made them cringe. They left as soon as they realized there wasn't any empty seat, anyway.

The famous joke shop was the funniest. Oikawa spent ten good minutes looking at a pygmy puff and whining in awe about how cute the creature was, and Kuroo couldn't help but to snap a picture of him with his phone. They bought a lot of sugar quills to eat in class without being caught by the teacher, and Oikawa let his mind wonder about how to prank Iwaizumi with all the other stuff he had bought. Kuroo, of course, had given him several recommendations and ideas. Oikawa made sure to type them all on his phone so he wouldn't forget.

Despite both of them wearing gloves, they still held hands when they wanted to, and much to Kuroo's surprise, it didn't feel less warm at all. His body was still heating up at the idea of having Oikawa close to him, and he loved it. When they weren't holding hands, they'd just walk side by side and sometimes Oikawa would put his hand on Kuroo's bicep as he led them to another shop. At this point, Kuroo had already stopped fighting the blush on his face. They looked the same: cheeks flushed, dumb smiles, and if one of them dared to make a snarky comment, the other would blame it on the cold.

They had to return to school before dinner, so their last stop was one of the famous pub. Kuroo, confused, wasn't so sure about drinking when they both hadn't eaten a real meal today, but Oikawa waved him off and assured he was far from a lightweight.

Which was a lie, because two beers later, Oikawa was leaning heavily against Kuroo's shoulder, his face pressed against it. The flush on his cheeks had worsened, but despite that, he still managed to hold a pretty comprehensive conversation with his boyfriend. He looked more sleepy than buzzed and Kuroo made a mental note of teasing him about being _'far from a lightweight.'_

They went back to Hogwarts after Kuroo finished his own beer, but they decided to go to Oikawa's bedroom before eating dinner. That evening, their affection which usually stopped at holding hands and standing close to each other had disappeared and they both craved for more. Lips met, names were whispered and none of them knew how they ended up with most of their clothes discarded onto the ground next to the bed, but they weren't complaining in the slightest. Maybe it was Oikawa feeling bolder with the remains of the alcohol in his blood, maybe it was Kuroo, high on love and on wanting to know, to feel, to learn everything about his lover.

In the end, they both skipped dinner and found themselves eating half of their purchases a few hours later. Kuroo didn't return to his dormitory that night either, but he fell asleep with Oikawa's head pressed against his bare chest and his fingers tracing invisible circles on his arm. _'I could get used to it'_ he thought.

It wasn't a bad first date, it had been a wonderful one actually. Oikawa had laughed even more than usually, Kuroo had gotten the chance to discover more of his facades, and both of their phones were filled with pictures of each other or with the selfies Oikawa asked him to take. Kuroo didn't want to, at first, but when he saw how beautiful they looked in the first one and how lovely Oikawa's expression was, he found himself begging Oikawa to take more.

Little did they know that the first heartbreak they would both go through was going to arrive earlier than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, thank you for reading this fourth chapter! We're getting closer to the end, and I still can't stop thinking what's coming: *censored* *sweats nervously* 
> 
> I'll probably update again after midterms are over, so see you all in a couple of weeks!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! 
> 
> here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/akechjgoro) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Iinhardt)


	5. Chapter 5

Spring arrived, months passed, and the Triwizard Tournament was slowly coming to an end. Nothing much had changed since then. Quidditch matches had begun once the weather allowed the students to fly on their brooms without being numb from the cold, and Kuroo decided to enjoy it as much as possible considering that soon, he'd be graduating. He still didn't know if he wanted to work in the muggle world, or if he wanted to aim for a job only wizards could do, but he figured he had enough time to think about it.

It felt like May arrived in the blink of an eye. A big part of the students from the three schools were slowly freaking out about the upcoming exams, but with the study sessions Kuroo organized with his friends and Oikawa's, he wasn't so stressed out. Oikawa had helped him with astrology, and he had discovered that it wasn't that hard, after all... At least, not when someone passioned about it explained it. It also helped that Oikawa had decided to forbid any physical contact with him until he had finished his homework, which forced him to really study this subject, for once.

Oikawa and him had grown closer than before, if possible. Them and all their friends had promised to see each other again after the tournament because a surprising deep friendship flourished between all of them. June was going to be a mess: their finals would start the first week of the month, and results would come out during the second one. Usually, students would leave school the third week, but considering that the tournament ended the fourth week of June, everybody stayed longer than planned.

Nobody was complaining, though. It was a wonderful chance to see the Triwizard Tournament, and since Hogwarts was organizing it, it was only normal for everybody to stay until the very end.

Kuroo had learnt that Oikawa played Quidditch, too, and that he was pretty good at it. He had joined him and Bokuto for practice one day with Iwaizumi, and much to their surprise, Beauxbatons' students had kicked their asses. Not a lot of students from Durmstrand and Beauxbatons came to Hogwarts' matches, because they didn't feel concerned. Oikawa came to all of Kuroo's matches, though. When he wasn't the one competing, they'd go there, Oikawa would cheer for one team, Kuroo for the other, and the winner would make a wish that the loser would realize.

They were so domestic. They didn't agree on everything, hadn't the same opinion on some things, but it didn't bother them. On the contrary, they'd both had gotten a bit bored if they were totally like one another. Even if they had a lot of things in common, those differences were making them special. They were wholesome together, it seemed like their hearts were beating in sync. Their relationship was wonderful, not too distant but not too clingy either and none of them was dependent on the other, but they knew they could count on each other when needed. Kuroo felt at ease, and so did Oikawa.

They didn't expect everything to collapse on a cloudy day in May, during a Quidditch game opposing Slytherin to Gryffindor. Kuroo's team was winning so far, but Bokuto was particularly motivated today, it wouldn't surprise anyone if he ended up scoring a few more points. Everything was intense: the third and last task was a month away, finals were supposed to start in a few days: everyone played intensely to forget about the constant stress of their last year.

Oikawa was with his friends from Beauxbatons, and a few rows behind them were sitting Kenma and Akaashi. At some point during the game, Kuroo's broom stopped moving on its own, and he looked at it with confusion. As a keeper, he couldn't allow himself to stay still considering that the other team was free to score if he wasn't there to stop them.

Nobody around him understood what was going on. Kuroo's broom was moving again after a few seconds, but not the way everybody hoped for it to. It was lurching from left to right, as if it didn't want Kuroo sitting on it anymore. It happened again, and again, and it never seemed to stop.

Kenma saw Oikawa standing up and covering his mouth with his hand. He excused himself and disappeared in the staircase under them. Kenma explained the situation to Akaashi and followed Beauxbatons' champion. He just wanted to ask him if everything was alright, and that Kuroo's broom was probably just being stubborn. He hadn't expected to see him with his wand pointing at Kuroo, whispering a spell he had never heard before. Kenma hid a few meters away from him, and what he saw on the pitch made his blood turn cold.

Kuroo held his broom as if he was going to fall anytime soon, his arms firmly wrapped around it. He was looking everywhere around him for help, but it seemed that most players were focused on Slytherin's chaser who was about to score. Rain started to fall, the wind making everything worse, and Kuroo ended up upside down, his legs hanging in the air. The broom seemed to stop moving, which allowed Kuroo to regain his breath for a moment, and then, it started lurching again without any warning.

Kenma covered his mouth with both hands, as he watched his best friend struggling to sit back on his broom. Oikawa was shaking, and at some point, his eyes left Kuroo and landed on someone across them, on the other side of the pitch. Kenma followed his movement, but his vision wasn't the best and all he could distinguish was someone else standing in the staircase leading to Durmstrang's bleachers.

When they both looked back at Kuroo, he was unconscious on the ground. The two students gasped, and Oikawa turned around when he noticed Kenma's presence, eyes big and frightened. Kenma, filled with terror and disgust, paid him no mind and rushed down the staircase, quickly followed by Akaashi who bumped into Oikawa with a frown on his face.

Screams could be heard, and the first cry had alerted the other players. When Bokuto found his friend on the ground with his broom still floating in the air, he dropped the quaffle in his hands and flew as fast as possible until he was kneeling next to Kuroo, yelling at the teachers to stop the game.

By the time Oikawa had reached the bottom of the stairs, Kenma and Akaashi were already by Kuroo's side. Kenma's expression was tense, and Oikawa could tell the other boy was trying his really best not to freak out in order for everyone to remain calm. Akaashi was casting a spell on the unconscious boy, whose back was laying against Bokuto's chest as support, and Oikawa could see everything. Despite all the protections, blood was streaming down one side of Kuroo's face, and his left arm was broken. Thankfully, a teacher had saw his fall and had tried to cushion it as much as possible, but it still hadn't been enough for Kuroo to get out of it without an injury.

Oikawa felt like his legs were going to give up on him, and a sob left his mouth. Kenma, as if he had heard him, turned around and shot him the most threatening glare he had ever seen on the boy's face before. Oikawa's heart broke at the sight of his boyfriend who had barely avoided death. He knew he had to reach out to him, to get closer and to make sure he'd be okay. And yet, he didn't move. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, and he felt unwanted, disgusted, _guilty._

So, he turned around ran away. He ran until his legs stopped working, until the Quidditch's pitch was barely visible, and until his sobs were so loud it physically hurt him. By the time his harsh breathing stopped, everybody had already returned to the castle and the sun was setting down. He was alone, hands shaking and when he looked at them, he could almost see Kuroo's _blood_ on them. Oikawa gripped his wand so tightly, it broke. Everything hurt, his hands, his legs, his lungs, his heart, his head. He had run out of tears, and yet he hiccuped as if he was still crying. He was cold. He didn't want to imagine how cold Kuroo's body must be. 

How he returned to Hogwarts, he didn't know. But he found himself at the infirmary before he could realize it. Kuroo was on the closest bed to the entrance, and he was still unconscious. Kenma's back was facing the door, and for once, he wasn't paying attention to a random game on his phone. His eyes were fixed on Kuroo, and he probably didn't even want to blink.

Oikawa opened his mouth to say something, but he shut it as soon as he remembered the last time he had been here. It was after the first task, and he had been the unconscious one. Kuroo had been there with him, too, but it was different. If he was back in the infirmary, this time, it was because of him.

The brunette left as another sob threatened to escape from his mouth. He skipped dinner, ignored the knock at his door in the evening, and skipped class the next day.

Kuroo actually woke up an hour after Oikawa left the infirmary. He tried to open his eyes but a sudden headache reminded him of what had happened and he closed them immediately. The familiar voice of his best friend made him want to open them again. “Oh thanks god you're awake. Here, take this.” Kenma instructed as he placed a pill between his lips followed by a glass of water.

After a few, long minutes, Kuroo felt like opening his eyes and he scanned the room before they settled on Kenma. His left forearm was in what seemed to be a cast, but it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would be. He raised his other, undamaged hand to touch his forehead and was met with bandages wrapped around it. This explained the absence of his bed-hair falling in front of his eye. “The nurse managed to fix your arm with magic, but he still wants you to wear this for two or three weeks because it's still pretty weak and could break again.”

Kuroo frowned. He vaguely remembered what happened... His broom had stopped responding, and then it had moved as if it wanted to make him fall and... Oh. He had fainted during his fall. Kenma answered to his questions for him. “Your broom... starting behaving weirdly. You fell, broke your arm and even if the cut wasn't as deep as we thought... your head started bleeding a-and you-” Kenma's vision blurred. The smaller boy didn't even stop the tears from falling out of his eyes and landing on Kuroo's mattress for the first time since the accident. “Kuro, I was _so_ worried.”

“I'm sorry.” Kuroo responded, voice hoarse. He raised his hand again and took Kenma's, giving it a light squeeze.

“It wasn't your fault.” Kenma sniffled, drying his tears with his sleeves. “It wasn't yours. It was...” Kuroo didn't like the way Kenma tensed. His friend looked away and chewed his lip nervously. It felt like there was something he was hiding from him, and despite how tired he was, he didn't like people keeping things from him.

“What happened?” He asked.

Kenma didn't answer, of course. He shook his head as if he refused to believe it himself, but someone spoke for him. Akaashi closed the infirmary door behind him and Bokuto and before Kuroo could say anything, he cut him. “Someone cast a jinx on your broom. By someone, I mean Oikawa.” Bokuto flinched by his side, because Akaashi had told him that as if it was the most common thing in the world, to almost die by your boyfriend's hands.

“What.. are you talking about?” A nervous smile appeared on Kuroo's face.

“Kenma saw him. He was casting a spell on you.” Bokuto flinched again at Akaashi's blunt words. “He probably tried to hurt you on purpose so that you'd have to abandon the competition.” Another flinch.

Kuroo looked at his two other friends, but none of them wanted to meet his eyes. “C'mon, guys. You seriously don't believe this crap, right?” No answer. Kuroo sat up to have a better look at them and Kenma finally looked back at him, worried that he had hurt himself even more with this new posture. “Kenma.” He begged, smile soft and vulnerable, looking for answers.

“I know what I saw, Kuro.” Kenma put his hood on, trying to make himself as small as possible.

This time, a nervous laugh came out of Kuroo's lips as his headache seemed to grow stronger. “You're messing with me right now. Why would he do that? He wouldn't have given up his second place for Ushijima during the second task if all he wanted was to win.” He arched a brow, he couldn't believe they were doing this. “He and I, we wouldn't.. I mean.. There would be no point of doing this.” Kuroo's eyes fell on Akaashi, who was fidgeting with his own fingers. “Do you believe in what you've said? About him wanting to hurt me on _purpose_?”

Ravenclaw's prefect sighed before shaking his head. “No, I don't. It doesn't make sense, but Kozume-san saw it so..”

Bokuto wrapped an arm around Akaashi's waist when he realized that his boyfriend was starting to overthink and analyze every event concerning Oikawa, and Akaashi visibly relaxed against him. “Iwa-kun absolutely doesn't believe Oikawa would've done something like this so we thought that-”

“I don't either.” Kuroo cut in. He hadn't been certain about a lot of things in his life, but for now, he could tell Oikawa hadn't hurt him.

“I know, bro.” Bokuto smiled. “So we thought that maybe there was a missing clue somewhere.” That would make sense. They needed an explanation for what Kenma had seen, and for what happened to Kuroo's broom. If they didn't want to jump on the conclusion that Oikawa had cast a spell on it, then they had to find out what he was doing.

With his fingers, Kuroo pinched the bridge of his nose in hope for his headache to disappear. “I'll talk to him.” Kenma seemed reluctant at the idea, but he didn't protest. He knew better than anyone else that once Kuroo had something in mind, he wouldn't let go of it. “But for now, I think I'm going to sleep again.”

Bokuto snorted at that, and the other boys seemed to relax. “I'll bring you something to eat later.” Kenma offered, and Kuroo thanked him with a small smile. He didn't fall back asleep immediately. Kuroo wanted to know which team had won, so Bokuto told him the game had been cancelled but that otherwise, his team would've definitely beaten Kuroo's.

Kuroo slept at the infirmary that night, and despite all the unanswered questions in his head, he missed the warmth of Oikawa's bed.

Sure, he had known him for less than a year, but still. He had seen so many different facades of Oikawa, but the insincere one, the one he wore when he was talking to people he didn't really like but pretended to because he had to be polite, this facade had never been around Kuroo. Not even once. The laughs they shared, the smile never leaving Oikawa's face on their first date, his name whispered falling from Oikawa's lips at night like a melody, none of that felt forced and fake.

Kuroo refused to believe Oikawa would've done such a thing to him and not only because he was blinded by love, but because he had learnt to know him, and it didn't make sense at all. He loved him, and Kuroo was pretty sure Oikawa loved him back even though they had never said it explicitly. He just had to talk to him, and all of this would be just a huge misunderstanding, only to end with a happy ending.

Days passed, and Kuroo never got the chance to talk to Oikawa. He never opened his door despite how many times Kuroo knocked on it, he didn't sit next to him in class and left as soon as the teacher dismissed them, and he was nowhere to be found at dinner. The first day was chaotic, because everybody almost jumped on Kuroo to ask him how he was and if he could still compete as Hogwarts' champion and the answer was positive. With the help of the nurse, Kuroo's arm was almost already entirely fixed, and he could even pass his exams without worrying about it. He wouldn't even feel an ounce of pain during the final task, the nurse had promised.

He spotted Oikawa, once, but just when he was about to reach out to him, his prefect interrupted him. He was hurt, and he missed him, but it looked like he wasn't the only one feeling like that. On another day, when Kuroo finally managed to grab Oikawa's wrist and to take a proper look at him, his heart dropped six feet underground. His boyfriend had flinched so hard Kuroo let go of him, and his eyes were filled with terror and guilt. His hair wasn't brushed, the dark circles under his eyes were similar to the ones he had during their first task when he decided to train instead of sleeping. His lips, which were always so soft and pink, were chapped and Kuroo guessed he probably bit them until he could taste blood. Kuroo had barely opened his mouth that Oikawa had already apologized and left in a rush, again.

Gossips had spread, too. Oikawa acted like he didn't know about them, but Kuroo saw the way he tensed whenever his name was whispered in the hallways. People had started saying that Oikawa was responsible for Kuroo's fall. He tried not to mind them, at first, and even denied it when people directly asked him, but it was hard. Oikawa's attitude was indeed suspicious and if Kuroo didn't trust him as much as he did, he'd have started suspecting him, too.

Kuroo felt like he was living a nightmare when his own director asked him if he believed the gossips about Oikawa, and obviously, Kuroo said no.

He snapped when one afternoon, he heard someone saying that even Oikawa's encounter with his father was planned. Even Akaashi, who was standing next to him, didn't stop him when he grabbed the student's collar and threw him against a wall. He made sure everybody around them wouldn't talk about this lie again, and said student never dared to be in the same hallway as Kuroo after that.

Kuroo could feel his anger slowly settling deep inside his stomach and becoming too much to contain. Nevertheless, he still passed his exams with all the other students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang the first week of June. He probably could've not failed astrology if he hadn't spent so much time thinking about Oikawa, but the other subjects went pretty well.

Results came in, and he still hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Oikawa. His arm was better, and he had an appointment with the nurse at the end of the week to remove his cast. It didn't surprise him when he saw the positive outcome of his finals, officially allowing him to graduate after the end of the tournament. He decided to celebrate with his friends that night, but he still chose to check Oikawa's name on the list, just to see if he had graduated too.

His ranking was worse than expected, but Kuroo didn't dare to comment on it. 

Kuroo had talked to Iwaizumi. The latter didn't want to share everything, because he felt like he'd betray Oikawa, and if someone had to talk to Kuroo, it was Oikawa, not him. Yet, he still told him that Oikawa stopped going to the Great Hall because of the gossips and people's eyes on him mostly, which made him so sick he couldn't eat, but also because he was indeed avoiding him. He had moved out of his bedroom for now, and was now sleeping in Beauxbatons' dormitory with his friends. He didn't get the results he should've gotten because he stopped studying since the incident and failed astrology too.

He didn't answer to his questions and apologized for it, but Kuroo thanked him nevertheless. He saw Oikawa looking at them when they finished talking, but this time, Kuroo walked away first.

Kuroo managed to contain his anger until the week before the final task. The three champions had gathered in the director's office, and they had been told about what awaited them. The task was some kind of race taking place in the forbidden forest. They had to face different kind of traps, deal with creatures, and duels were allowed between the champions. Their objective was to find a portkey which would bring the winner back to the entrance of the forest. It didn't seem like anything too special, and in comparison to the lake, Kuroo definitely preferred the forest.

Oikawa tried to go back to his dormitory as soon as the directors wished them a good night, but Kuroo's frustration was too intense to ignore anymore. Hogwarts' champion grabbed his... was he even if boyfriend anymore? Anyway, he grabbed Oikawa by the arm and led him outside. Oikawa didn't even try to argue, too tired of running away and too pleased by the feeling of Kuroo's fingers on his skin. The weather was warm enough to let them wear t-shirts even at night, which allowed them to talk outside without freezing to death.

Satisfied with the distance between them and the castle, Kuroo pressed Oikawa back against a tree and his forearm was against the brunette's chest, putting enough pressure just to make sure he wouldn't leave. “Let me go.” Oikawa said, eyes refusing to meet Kuroo and fixed on his collarbones instead. “Please.”

“No fucking way.” Kuroo tilted his own head to get a better look at Oikawa's face, and he could see that the other was trying really hard not to cry. “Can we talk? Can you stop running away from me and can we fucking _talk_?” Oikawa shook his head and tried to push his arm away from him. “Fuck, Oikawa, I need to know what is going on inside that mind of yours.”

“No, you don't.” He was starting to shake, and so was Kuroo, but none of them knew if it was because of anger, sadness or fear.

“Just tell me you didn't do it!” His voice was getting louder now, and he could feel his heartbeat quickening and his blood boiling hot. “Deny all this bullshit people say about you! Look at me in the eyes and tell me they're wrong!” Birds flew away from them as his shouts probably woke up a part of the animals around them. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and spoke again, voice back to normal this time. “That's all you need to do, just tell me this is all just a big misunderstand.”

He was waiting for a nod, for a confession, for an apology. He certainly didn't expect it when Oikawa answered: “What if it's not?”

Kuroo immediately frowned, eyes trying to look for an answer in Oikawa's. “I hate it, I hate it so much.” Tears finally streamed down his face, soaking it in no time. “All I've wanted for the past two weeks was to disappear and to make you forget about me but you're always complicating things.” Kuroo automatically lifted a hand to wipe Oikawa's tears away from his face, and the other boy let him. However, his sobs intensified. “Nobody's lying.”

His thumb stopped moving on Oikawa's cheek, tears falling on it and sliding all the way down to his forearm. The wind around them made the leaves rustle and a wolf howled in the distance. It was like Kuroo had been punched in the guts. Oikawa continued. “I cast a jynx on your broom.” 

Kuroo leaned back unconsciously, incomprehension written on his face. “But why would you...”

“I was trying to help you!” He yelled, slapping Kuroo's hands away from his face so they weren't touching anymore. He wrapped his arms around himself protectively, and Kuroo hated the sight. “I didn't mean to make you fall. Your broom started acting weirdly, and I spotted this other student casting a spell on you. So I figured that if I tried to cast another one, it would make your broom as stable as possible, and you wouldn't get hut.”

A memory crossed Kuroo's mind. That explained why his broom was either moving or suddenly stopping. That student wanted it to move, and Oikawa wanted it to stop. Relief settled back as he felt the muscles of his shoulders relax. He and his friends were right then, Oikawa had his reasons! Kuroo felt like smiling. “So that means you helped m-”

“I didn't!” Oikawa let himself slide against the tree until he could hide his face between his knees. “At some point, I wanted to check on the other student to see if there was a way to stop him. I looked away for a second, but in the meantime, my jynx stopped.” Kuroo crouched next to him and tried to reach out to him again, but Oikawa slapped his hand away a second time. “When I wanted to look at you again you.. you were...” Another wave of sobs hit him, and Kuroo felt useless. “I saw your face and I... I felt terrible. If I hadn't looked away, I could've stabilized the broom again and you wouldn't have fallen.”

“But Tooru, it wasn't your fault, it was that-”

“Don't call me that!” If his heart wasn't already broken, the look Oikawa gave him made sure to break it another time. Eyes shining with tears, Kuroo could now understand why they were filled with fear. He wasn't afraid of Kuroo.

Oikawa was afraid of himself.

“I'm already a burden to my family, I don't want to you to hate me too.” Oikawa was the one to close the distance between them this time. His fingers grasped Kuroo's shirt and he put his head against his chest. He didn't push Kuroo away when he caressed his back with his hands. “I already hurt you once, and I can't stop thinking about it.” Looking down at him, Kuroo realized that all that was left was a vulnerable, insecure and scared boy. “I care too much about you to forgive myself. I'm sorry, I'm so, so _sorry_.” His voice broke, and the pain in Kuroo's chest worsened.

Kuroo felt his own eyes burn at the scenery. His boyfriend, the person he loved, breaking down in front of him and there was nothing he could do. He didn't even know how to reassure him. “Oikawa, baby, I'll _never_ be afraid of you and I'm not gonna hate you because you tried to protect me.” He promised, because this was true. He had tried to help him, he didn't mean to harm him, and if there was someone to hate, it was that student.

Oikawa's sobs lessened. “Let's end things here.” What was came out of his mouth next. His grip loosened on his t-shirt, and they both stood up on shaky legs.

“What?” Too many things crossed his mind at once. Oikawa wasn't thinking straight, he was shaken up by what happened, he didn't mean it. They just needed to talk about it, Kuroo would prove him that he still trusts him and it'd all go back to how it used to be before.

“I thought about it and that'd be the best solution for you. I can't.. always control magic, and with what happened to you and your brother... I don't want you to go through that again.” The brunette whipped the remains of tears on his face with the back of his hand and stared at his feet. “It's not like I can make you happy forever anyway. You know how hard life is for people like us." 

Kuroo's anger, whom he thought had disappeared, came back in a rush as he tried to follow what was going on. “Don't fucking speak for me, I can think on my own. You have nothing to do with my past so stop acting as if you knew what I want. What about _you_?”

Oikawa looked taken aback by his words, but nevertheless, emotions left his face again. Oikawa shook his head, already considering this conversation as over. “Goodbye, Kuroo.”

As he started to walk away, Kuroo grabbed his wrist another time to stop him, and Oikawa yanked his arm free so harshly it actually hurt Kuroo's still weak one. A pained whine escaped his mouth before he could stop it, and Oikawa's disgust for himself grew stronger than ever. “I'm so sorry, Tetsurou I...” What was left of tears fell out of his eyes again, but he left before he finished his sentence, leaving Kuroo alone with his thoughts and the lingering feeling on Oikawa's skin on his fingers.

He didn't have to say the end of his sentence because Kuroo already knew what he wanted to say anyway. It wasn't _'I won't hurt you again'_ or _'I will leave you alone.'_ It was more than that, and it was something Kuroo wished to hear but not like that. It left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, because he knew that Oikawa didn't want to end things here, but because he thought it'd bring more happiness to Kuroo's life, he still did it nevertheless.

Kuroo knew it, because after all that was the same thing he had planned to tell him sooner or later.

The end of Oikawa's sentence was _'I love you too'_ and Kuroo was conscious he wasn't the only one left alone with a broken heart tonight.

He didn't cry, that night, but he didn't sleep much either. None of his friends had to ask him what was going on the following morning, because they already knew by the way he flinched when they pronounced Oikawa's name. He told them everything, and they supported him the best they could but it wasn't enough. Kuroo didn't want to hear that it'll be okay, that it'll heal. He knew that, just because you get your heart broken once and lose your first partner doesn't mean you'll spend the rest of your life alone. Kuroo didn't want to thing about his relationship with Oikawa as over, because he knew it wasn't.

And Oikawa did, too. He was probably conscious that Kuroo would try to talk to him once again, and if they dared to discuss again, they'd probably get back together. But it was hard to see each other, when one was trying to avoid the other as much as possible, and when the other didn't want to act now in fear of getting rejected again.

The third and last task was about to start, and none of them were in high spirits despite how everyone tried to cheer them up. Oikawa's fake smiles had returned, he had gotten a new wand after breaking his old one and he had brushed his hair for the first time in a while. Kuroo tried to appear motivated, but he knew that his smiles weren't reaching his eyes.

They'd have more time to find the portkey than they had for the second task. The forest was big and dangerous, so none of the director wanted the champions to hurt themselves in a rush. Kuroo felt his palms starting to sweat because of stress. If the other tasks hadn't allowed the champions to fight each other directly, this one did, and he clearly didn't want to fight either Oikawa or Ushijima. He was a great wizard, but not the best one.

A firework was shot, and when it exploded in the air, all the champions started to run in the forest, leaving their friends and peers safely waiting outside. Oikawa was fast on a broom, but he was also a good runner. Kuroo never catching up to him when he was running away made sense now.

Kuroo lost them soon because he stopped running when the others didn't. Even if he was the captain of Slytherin's quidditch team, his stamina wasn't as good as he wanted it to be. So instead, he looked around him and took his time to search for any clue or creature that could show him the way to the portkey. It would take too long to find it on his own, so if someone or something could lend him a hand, he'd gladly accept it. After all, he still had to win this tournament. A lot of people believed in him, and as Oikawa had said before, he was pretty sure his brother would want him to win, too. And he had to kick Oikawa's ass. Maybe he could use his victory as an opportunity to talk to him again.

Kuroo wondered if Oikawa's bracelet felt as heavy as his own.

By the time he took a break, his hands were covered in dirt and the only thing he had encountered was a bunch of owls sleeping in a tree. He couldn't see the entrance of the forest anymore, and if he was being honest with himself, he would acknowledge that he was totally lost. A part of him immediately wanted to abandon, because the fear of staying stuck in this place terrified him, but the task hadn't even begun an hour ago and he wasn't going to give up so easily.

He started walking again. Where, he didn't know, but his brain was telling him that moving was a better option than sitting and waiting for help. Hell, they hadn't even given him a map. The champion was slowly starting to lose hope when he came across a group of thestrals, but sadly, apart from pushing him in a direction he decided to follow, them didn't help him much.

The portkey wasn't supposed to be too hard to notice. It looked like a trophy, it was white and shiny and this freaking forest was dark. If something happened to shine, he'd notice it immediately. Which meant that he was still far away from it.

His head started to hurt a little bit, and he blamed it on the medicine Kenma forced him to take despite promising he was feeling alright.

Kuroo probably wandered uselessly in the forest for an hour before he heard a shout and something cracking. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to check at first, because maybe that was just Ushijima getting his ass kicked by some kind of scary creature for the second time, and he sure didn't want to be the next victim. But still, despite his rationality telling him that any normal human would just walk away, he followed the noise until he found its source.

He hid behind a tree when he saw that Ushijima was indeed standing a few meters again from him. He was pointing his wand at someone, who was nobody else but Oikawa. A few tree branches had fallen around them, which explained the cracking. Oikawa's hair was messy and he was breathing heavily, and Ushijima's back was covered in dirt like he had fallen just before.

He shouldn't spy on them, he really shouldn't. “It's all your fucking fault!” Oikawa shouted and yes, he really shouldn't be there right now. “If it wasn't for you telling me that I should've joined your school, my dad would've left me alone, and if it wasn't for your disgusting classmates, all this _mess_ wouldn't have happened!” Oh man, Oikawa was angry, and Kuroo was glad he wasn't the one getting yelled at.

The _mess_ , Kuroo translated it as his accident and their breakup.

Oikawa attacked Ushijima with a spell, but the other champion dodged it before casting one on Oikawa too, who broke it with a movement of his wrist. “I never told them to attack your boyfriend.” Ushijima explained, wiping the sweat on his brow with the bottom of his t-shirt.

“How nice of you, to play fair this year.” Oikawa's smile was twisted and it was clearly showing that he wanted Ushijima on his knees with his wand against his forehead. “And it didn't cross your mind to stop them? Your friends are playing dirty and you _let_ them?” The next spell he cast rebounded on Kuroo's tree and his heart skipped a beat. If he decided to step in to stop them, they'd probably end him in no time.

Fear settled in Kuroo's eyes when they landed on Oikawa again. His aura was similar to his father's, it was intense, full of hatred and had he been a villain, he'd have probably killed Ushijima. The grip on his wand tightened, and the two wizards started attacking each other brutally. Blue and black spells bumped into each other, ricocheted and broke more branches around them, but none of them seemed to care. They wouldn't stop until one of them was left unconscious on the ground, and Kuroo knew better than to interrupt them.

Any other student would have just walked away and took it as an opportunity to look for the portkey. But one of the champions fighting was Oikawa, and Kuroo couldn't just leave like that. Plus, he was kind of worried about how the other was holding his wand. It looked like he couldn't master it fully, and it was maybe due to the fact that it was a new one.

Oikawa's stamina reached his peak and his spells were getting messier. He ended up being hit by one of Ushijima's spell and landed on the ground a few meters behind. Kuroo almost, _almost_ , rushed to his side when he heard a growl coming out of Oikawa's mouth, but the boy was back on his feet in no time. “You're a piece of shit.” He spat out.

He had probably bitten his lips to muffle a scream when he was hit, because a small amount of blood was dripping down his chin. He had a cut on his right cheekbone too, but none of that seemed too serious to worry about. Oikawa, at least, didn't. He breathed in but that wasn't enough for his spells to hit Ushijima, instead landing in front of his feet and forcing him to step back.

And that, Kuroo realized, was exactly what Oikawa wanted. Oikawa was hit again, and despite the sob that came out of his mouth, he didn't budge and cast the last spell needed for Ushijima to lose balance and fall in the hole behind him. It wasn't too deep to injure him, but he let go of his wand for a few seconds and Oikawa took it as an opportunity to close the distance between them and to use the roots around Ushijima to tie him and restrict his movements.

Oikawa snorted, breathless, as he admired his masterpiece. Ushijima would probably free himself once the roots would lose their strength, but for now, he'd stay stuck for at least a good dozen of minutes, which would allow Oikawa and Kuroo to get closer to the portkey in the meantime.

Oh. Right. He had almost forgotten he had been spying on them since the beginning of their fight.

“You can come out now.” What was Oikawa said, slowly walking to Kuroo's tree as he cleaned his hand against his dirty shorts. Kuroo raised his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm, and Oikawa chuckled at that. He was in a better mood, that was already a good thing.

“Nice fight.” Kuroo said. He followed him in a deeper part of the forest, without even knowing why. “Are you alright though? That last blow seemed pretty strong.” Oikawa touched his ribs automatically and winced a little at the pain. He wouldn't be walking if something had been broken, so the two of them guessed it'd be alright after some time.

They stayed silent for a moment. Kuroo wanted to talk about their argument, but he didn't know how to bring the topic, especially _not_ when they were supposed to fight each other to win the tournament. However, Kuroo noticed the way Oikawa's fingers twitched when their shoulders accidentally brushed together. It confirmed his previous thoughts: Oikawa absolutely didn't want to break up with him, and they just needed to talk to fix things between them.

“Don't follow me.” Oikawa ordered when they reached a small wooden bridge leading to two different paths.

“We need to talk and you know it.”

Oikawa gave him a look and his eyes had a surprisingly tenderness in them. “I do.”

“If I don't follow you, can we talk later?” Kuroo proposed. Oikawa seemed hesitant, at first, but he finally nodded. He, too, had probably realized that their bracelets weren't as heavy as they had been for the past weeks now that they were next to each other again. “Okay then. You'll have to congratulate me when I win this goddamn tournament anyway.”

Oikawa arched a brow at that and smirked. “Eh, sure thing. You'll be on your knees admiring my greatness before you even have time to blink, _Tetsu-chan_.” Kuroo wanted to tell him that it was already the case, but he felt like it'd be too much. He put his hand on the other champion's shoulder, squeezed it, ignored how his fingers carved to touch him again, and walked away. He decided to go left, because he noticed a small creature going that way while they were talking. Oikawa followed the right path, his heart beating like crazy and his hand unconsciously touching the area where Kuroo's fingers had been.

The creature was a small Hunkypunk, and there wasn't only one, but at least five of them pocking at Kuroo's legs. They seemed to lead him somewhere, and Kuroo decided to follow them. After all, he felt like he had been in this freaking forest for hours without coming across any creature, so he was glad to finally encounter a few. One ended up sitting on his shoulder and played with his ear and if Kuroo's headache hadn't worsened, he'd have almost found this cute.

He didn't know why he felt so disoriented, but there was a constant buzzing in his ears and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get rid of it. It was slowly become too much to ignore and it started to make him feel dizzy. He didn't expect this headache to give him hallucinations too, but when he decided to look around him after a while, he was met with his brother watching him with interest. “What the...” Kuroo rubbed his eyes with his knuckles to check if he wasn't dreaming, but no, his brother was still in front of him.

Just went Kuroo reached out for him, the silhouette turned around and left. Kuroo tried to grab him, but everything faded away. He found himself completely forgetting about the tournament as his eyes scanned everything around him to look for another silhouette. He couldn't let him go again, not after everything that happened. If it was his only chance to see his face again, Kuroo would do anything in his power to succeed.

He found one a few meters away. He remembered this one by heart, because it was the last one he saw before his brother died. Kuroo saw himself, too, when his little self was hiding behind his brother's body. He wanted to say something, to plea for everything to stop but all he could do was to stand there in silence as tears fell down his face. It happened years ago, and yet, the pain was still the same. He remembered exactly the way his fingers had hurt from how hard he had been gripping his brother's jacket.

The buzzing grew louder when his brother's silhouette fell on the ground. Kuroo didn't remember anything after that, and he felt his own legs starting to shake and threatening to give up on him but his eyes never left the scene before him. His brother was losing so much blood it slowly started to form a puddle under them, and Kuroo wished his younger self would've had the reflex to stop the bleeding.

The wounded and soon dead man held his little brother close to his chest because he knew that it'd be the last thing he'd see in his life. A caring and satisfied smile was on his lips when he whispered those last few words, which Kuroo had forgotten until now.

“I'm proud of you.” He said, their foreheads touching. This is when little Kuroo cried and promised him he'd become a great wizard. His brother last laugh echoed, and then, he passed away. Kuroo fell down on his knees, crying as all the memories made the buzzing worse . The silhouettes disappeared, but new ones appeared. His brother's peers, family members, all attending to the funerals and muttering things Kuroo wished he had never heard.

He remember how alone had stayed all day. His father had his own grief and had had to take care of everything around them, so even if he checked on Kuroo a few times, he didn't spend much time with him. His grandparents were helping his father and taking care of the other people who had come, so no one had been really present to help little Kuroo with his loneliness and guilt.

He had sat the whole day in a corner of the room, the plush his brother had given him held close to his chest and his empty eyes never looked away from the framed picture of his brother. Every time he closed his eyes, he could hear his own cries and feel his brother's body turning cold. It was worse than a nightmare, because it was reality and he couldn't just wake up and feel better.

People quickly surrounded him and had talked about how dangerous his brother's job was and that his death didn't really surprise any of them. Kuroo yelled at the silhouettes to get away and to stop talking about him like that, but none of them listened. They discussed about how people said it was Kuroo's fault, and he begged them to leave him alone.They announced that he was the only wizard left in his family, and Kuroo sobs grew louder as he told them to shut up, again and again.

He couldn't breathe, he couldn't put an end to his screams and tears, and the insufferable buzzing soon became the only thing he could hear. By now, the creatures had left him all alone and Kuroo sincerely hoped they hadn't brought him there on purpose.

A few days after the funerals, Kuroo had gotten rid of everything related to magic in his room. He had broken the wand his father had gifted him, had thrown out of the window his wizard costume, had ripped the pages of those adventures books counting endless of stories about this magical world. He had only stopped once there was nothing left around him, and had slept in his brother's bed. Surprisingly, it had felt like a weight had been taken off his shoulders after that.

He missed his brother, of course he did. Seeing his silhouette, his face, remembering all this events, _hearing his last words_ _again_. It was all too much, and he thought that he'd die from a heart attack right there, lost in the middle of a dangerous forest with no one to find his dead body. He didn't even realize his bracelet started to heat up around his wrist.

He wished things could've been different. Maybe if he'd known about what would eventually happen, he'd have spent even more time with his brother. He'd have told him he loved him more often than he did, and he'd have practiced his magic to get rid of his brother's murderer himself.

A flash of Oikawa's face crossed his mind, and it seemed to lessen the pain in his body for a few seconds, before it all intensified. If only he hadn't been so scared to talk to him, they could've figured things out before all of this happened. He knew he'd have been happier than he had ever been, if they had stayed together. Kuroo really wanted to be with him.

The buzzing grew stronger and his vision started to blur. He felt like he was suffocating. He was coughing and wheezing, sweat making his t-shirt stick to his back, his body was shaking and he could barely hear himself begging for help and mercy. He just wanted everything to stop. He had worked hard to mourn his brother's death, and he practiced harder than everyone else to make him proud. All he wanted was to be left with nice memories of him, and not all this pain.

As if his body listened to him, he felt himself falling onto the ground, his eyes closing as everything faded away. There was no heavy chest, no noise, no sensation of choking on his own breath, nothing.

Before he fainted, he caught sight of a familiar silhouette running towards him. He whispered a name, and fell into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Since universities closed, I've been able to update this fic sooner than originally planned! I hope you don't want to kill me too much despite how... angsty this chapter was..... I warned y'all
> 
> When I wrote Kuroo's accident at the beginning of this chapter I was basically like "ok so this scene from harry potter but... make it gay" and damn that was so much better 
> 
> Anyway, see you soon for the last update! Thank you for reading this, it means a lot 
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! 
> 
> here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/akechjgoro) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Iinhardt)


	6. Chapter 6

Oikawa hadn't gotten too far from where he and Kuroo had taken two different paths. The blush on his cheeks became too intense to bear, and he ended up crouching and hiding his hot face between his hands. He was no fool, of course he had missed Kursso despite how much he had ignored him.

He never wanted to break up with him, he truly didn't want to. But so much had happened in the last few months, and it had freaked him out. The incident with his father followed by a series of letters he didn't mention to anybody expect Iwaizumi, one of them announcing his parents' divorce... He was overjoyed at the idea of his kind, loving mother finally daring to leave her heartless husband, and his sister was the happiest too. However, it still meant that a lot of things were going to change, and he didn't know how it'd go.

Their father would probably move out of their house and find his own place, and after that, Oikawa would make sure he wouldn't hear about him ever again. Which allowed him to live the life he wanted, to study for a job he genuinely liked and to make his own choices. Maybe he'd try to join a professional Quidditch team, or maybe he'd study to become a teacher at Beauxbatons. He had so many possibilities.

His life would be easier, too. No more high expectations, no one to tell him what's right or wrong, no path to follow. He could come out to his family properly now. Oikawa had told his sister about his sexuality a few years ago, but even if he guessed his mother knew about it too, he never told her face to face. Not that she'd reject him, but she'd feel guilty for not stopping his father when he pestered their son about getting a girlfriend and she'd probably cry. Oikawa loved her.

And Kuroo. If at first they both thought their relationship wouldn't last long, Oikawa wasn't sure if he could spend his summer break without him. He didn't even know if Kuroo felt the same about him, and he feared the other would end things with him after the Tournament, because it would be too complicated to continue, or because he wasn't ready.

In the end, he ended things himself. Kuroo's accident had really startled him, and just thinking about it again created an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. A part of him knew it wasn't his fault, because after all, all he tried to do was to help him. And yet, every night he dreamed about Kuroo's fall, sometimes he zoned out and remembered his bloody face and broken arm. He couldn't help himself but think _'what would've happened if I hadn't looked away?'_

Oikawa was the kind of person to bottle up things until he exploded, and this is exactly what happened. He had regretted not being by Kuroo's side after the accident, he had refused to talk to him because he didn't know how to face him, he had pretended not to be affected by the gossips about him even though he ended up crying in Iwaizumi's bed at the end of the day. So when Kuroo and him spoke again and when he realized that despite all of that, Kuroo still _trusted_ him, it made him feel like he wasn't worth of such a wonderful person.

From the moment he was born, he knew his father literally _trained him_ to become the man he wanted, and Oikawa -thankfully- never became that man.

It was hard for him to make friends at school, because everybody knew about his family's renown. Iwaizumi had been an exception because their mothers were friends and they first met at a park when they could barely walk or talk. They sticked together since then, and Iwaizumi was the only one with whom he could really be himself at school. Everybody else just used him as a potential way to get more popular, or used him because of the recognition they'd get thanks to Oikawa's name. Oikawa hated them.

And yet, because his father told him so, he pretended not to notice it and responded to their fake pleasantries with even more fake smiles and laughs. That's how his multiple facades were born. He was always seen with a smile on his face, kind words leaving his mouth when he talked to his teachers or to girls who pretended to be interesting in him, and not in his name. He played soccer with the group of guys who always asked him to despite how much he _hated_ that sport and just wanted to be left alone.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki had been the other exceptions after Iwaizumi. It wasn't so long after he had joined Beauxbatons' Quidditch team. They two of them had started messing with him and it surprised Oikawa a lot, because before them, apart from Iwaizumi, nobody dared to make fun of him even if they wanted to. They were too afraid of what his father could to do them and their peers, so they never tried to joke with him. Matsukawa and Hanamaki didn't hesitate though, and it made Oikawa feel like a normal teenager for the first time in his life.

He had gotten into fights with his father before, because he talked back, because he told him he didn't want to do as ordered, and he would always lose the argument. Head bowed, apologies falling from his lips as his father only called him a disappointment and returned to his work like nothing had happened. He had never played with him like fathers did with their kids, he had never given him any advice like normal parents would, he had never cared when Oikawa called him from the hospital and told him he had injured his knee. He had never showed him love, and Oikawa didn't do it either.

Which is why he was closer to his sister and mother. In comparison, they were patient, kind, and they loved him. He spent too many evenings to count with his head on his mother's lap as she read him a huge variety of stories, and he talked to his sister a lot because he knew she'd always listen, even in the middle of the night, and that she'd always tell him what he needed to hear.

When he finally accepted the fact that he wasn't interested in girls, the fear that had settled in his stomach had made him so sick he had skipped class and hadn't come home until it was pitch dark outside and that he was sure his father wouldn't be there to greet him. But his sister was. She was sitting outside their house with her phone firmly held in her hand, and she was so, _so_ worried about him. The fear of losing her made him cry, and he ended up coming out to her despite how scared he was. She didn't respond at first, and Oikawa called himself disgusting. Following his words, she immediately pulled him into a hug and made him swear to never say that word again, and they both cried together that night.

He was tired of lying to himself and to the people around him, which is why, when he arrived to Hogwarts, he decided that he didn't care much about his appearance. He didn't let go of his multiple facades because after all, he wasn't the only Beauxbatons student there, but he guessed he could act a little bit more like himself because after all, none of the other students knew how he usually acted.

When his eyes landed on Kuroo, he found admiration in the other's eyes, which didn't surprise him that much. He knew the effect he had on both girls and boys after all. What came out as a shock to him was the _way_ he looked at him. It was pure interest, like he didn't know a thing about him and genuinely wanted to know _more_ and it made Oikawa's chest expand with hope.

He knew that if he had stayed a few more seconds with him that night after they broke up, he'd have told him he truly loved him. He wanted to, and he still felt the desire to say it now. If there was one more chance to fix things, he'd take it. Which is why he had accepted to talk to him later, because he couldn't impose his decision on Kuroo, at least not like that.

He didn't expect this chance to happen sooner than anticipated. And he didn't think it'd be so saddening. He was about to cross a small stream when his bracelet suddenly heated up so much it burnt. Screams ensued, and he immediately turned around like thunder had struck him. He ran as fast as he could til he reached the bridge where they last saw each other, and he followed the other path. He could've been attacked by a creature, or worse, by Ushijima, but it seemed like the most unimportant thing in the world right now. Kuroo was screaming in agony, and even though they were rivals, they were lovers first and he couldn't leave him like that.

It seemed like the other champion was talking to some people. He was begging them to stop and to leave him alone, but when Oikawa found him, there was nobody around him. Kuroo was just on the floor, gripping his hair so tightly it looked like it hurt, and Oikawa had to hold back a gasp. Kuroo had never been the kind of person to break down easily and to seem so vulnerable, so the vision in front of his eyes absolutely broke him.

What was worse, was the number of Wrackspurts around his head. They were supposed to be invisible, but their number was too big to be ignored and his sister had taught him how to see them. There was like a really thin white smoke around Kuroo's head, and Oikawa guessed those creatures were probably what caused his hallucinations.

As he was about to run by his side, Kuroo collapsed and even if it worried Oikawa, it was probably for the best. Oikawa waved his hands around Kuroo's face to get rid of the creatures and cast a spell around them to make sure they wouldn't come back. Oikawa's fingers brushed the other student's bangs out of his face and dried Kuroo's wet face with his sleeve, cringing when he realized most of it was covered in dust because of his duel with Ushijima. “Tetsurou...?” He tried softly, his voice almost a whisper

The other boy didn't respond, which was no surprise to him. It seemed like those hallucinations brought back a lot of painful memories, and Oikawa knew he himself wouldn't have been able to handle it. He'd have probably used what remained of his reason to cast a spell and abandon, but it didn't even seem to have crossed Kuroo's mind.

He put Kuroo's head on his lap and waited. He wanted to grab Kuroo's wand and ask for help, but that would mean that Kuroo would've to stop participating in the tournament, and Oikawa knew that he didn't want to. It didn't matter how long it would take, Oikawa wasn't going to move from here, and if Ushijima happened to see them, he'd do everything in his power to properly protect Kuroo this time. He had failed before, he sure wasn't going to fail another time.

The forest was silent around them. It was dark, which didn't allow him to see too far in front of him. The creatures that had led Kuroo there returned at some point, and they left the lamps they carried with them next to the two boys. One of them even touched Kuroo's cheek as if it was truly worried, and they soon disappeared again. Oikawa hadn't encountered much magical creatures before coming to Hogwarts. He had learnt about them thanks to his sister, but it looked like they loved Kuroo a lot, as if he had a special connection with them. Maybe he had, just like that night with the thestrals.

A dozen of minutes later, Kuroo stirred and slowly blinked at him. Oikawa let out a _'thanks god you're awake'_ and took Kuroo's chin between his fingers to inspect if he had hurt himself accidentally, but it seemed like everything was fine. Kuroo looked at him as if he had just seen a ghost, and then, he sat up, examined Oikawa with a tilt of his head and talked.

“I'm not dreaming, am I?” Oikawa shook his head, and Kuroo sighed in relief. “Oh. Oh... That's good then, that's-” He cut himself when he felt another wave of tears falling down his cheeks, and this time, he didn't know if it was because he was still terrified by what had happened, or if it was because he couldn't believe Oikawa had come back.

A little bit of both, he guessed.

Oikawa wrapped him arms around him, pulled him close, and Kuroo let it all out. Oikawa whispered soft words in his ears after he told him about everything, his hallucinations, his brother's last words, but also about how much he had missed Oikawa. The brunette held him and this time, he didn't let go. His t-shirt was already torn because of Ushijima's spell, but by the way Kuroo gripped it like he was afraid he'd disappear, he guessed he'd just throw it away after this task. Oikawa apologized too, again and again, and before he knew it, tears were wetting his own face.

They were pathetic: two broken lovers holding each other like their lives depended on it, in the middle of a scary forest with threats that could kill them both in no time. And yet, they found a welcoming comfort in each other's arms.

“You're amazing.” He told Kuroo after a moment, making a face at how embarrassing he sounded. “I'm sure he's proud of you, even now. It must have been terrifying, and yet you made it so far, you're such a strong, admirable person, Tetsu.” Kuroo pulled away from where he cried against his chest to look at him, and Oikawa kissed a fresh tear away. “It's alright,” he promised. “You're safe now.”

After Kuroo calmed down, he softly knocked their foreheads together and rubbed their nose against one another. It was his chance to fix things now, and it seemed like Kuroo had been waiting for this even more than he had. Kuroo's hands were still loose in his lap, but they found their way on Oikawa's cheeks and held him once again like he didn't want him to go. “I'm not leaving you, trust me.” And Kuroo did, because he had never stopped to trust him, not even one second.

“The worst thing wasn't even you breaking up with me, it was the fact that it looked like you were ripping your heart out of your chest in front of my eyes.” Kuroo said. Well, Oikawa thought that it was kind of what happened that night. It hurt him a lot to lie to himself again and to do something he really didn't want to.

“I'm sorry.” Oikawa repeated. “I was overthinking too many things, it overwhelmed me and I felt like this was the best decision even though I knew I was _wrong_.”

“You're an idiot.” Kuroo dead-panned, and Oikawa found himself nodding because hell yes, he was one. They stayed like that a little bit, enjoying their proximity after weeks of ignoring each other on purpose because of all the things they didn't dare to talk about.

None of them knew who scooted closed first, or if they both did it at the same time, but they looked into each other's eyes as if they could find all the answers to their questions in them, and their lips met. Their kiss was messy, urgent and wet, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that they were together now, and that none of them intended to leave. Oikawa had barely the time to pull away and to inhale before Kuroo crashed their lips together again and kissed him until _he_ was the one who couldn't breathe.

They had both dreamed of it. They thought that it'd be romantic, that they'd be surrounded by candles and birds when they were ready to say it, but no. Last tears were still falling from their eyes, they were covered in dust and dried mud and Kuroo still believed that it was the perfect moment to intertwine his fingers with Oikawa and he wouldn't change a single thing. After all, it suited them. It wasn't perfect, it could've been better, but they were together so it didn't matter.

“I love you, _for fuck's sake_ , I really do.” Kuroo confessed, his heart beating so loud he was afraid Oikawa would hear it.

There was no fireworks, no cheers from their friends spying on them, no flowers blooming around them. There was Oikawa's soft snicker, another kiss exchanged in this dark, unwelcoming forest and a warm feeling in their chests. “I love you too. I love you so much.” Kuroo could feel Oikawa's quick pulse under his fingers, and he smiled.

“Don't decide what's good for me ever again.” Kuroo said, nails digging in his skin as a warning.

“I won't.” He swore, because after all, decisions weren't his only. Kuroo would be there to stop him from making choices he'd regret now.

They both knew that they still needed to talk more, because there was a lot of things they needed to discuss about, but the sound of an explosion startled them and made them realize they were still supposed to be competing right now. A black firework with the symbol of Durmstrang was what caused the explosion, but it wasn't the sign of Ushijima's victory. No, Ushijima had given up, which meant that there was only the two of them left.

Oikawa and Kuroo looked at each other with a dumbfounded look on their faces, and they got up in a rush. The two champions starting running towards the last part of the forest they had yet to explore, and on their way, they cast inoffensive spells at each other just to slow the other down. Laughters echoed, and it was far from being the worst task ever after all. They both had promised to beat the other, and they weren't going to give up now.

They came across different creatures, but they didn't even pay attention to them. At some point, Kuroo, who was a few meters before Oikawa, had even slowed down just to turn around and throw a peace sign at the other boy, silently daring him to catch up. Oikawa did, and he elbowed him in the ribs so hard it knocked Kuroo's breath out of him.

They were wheezing, and their legs hurt, but none of them stopped running. They jumped above roots, used the nature around them to be a nuisance to the other as much as possible, but their smiles never left their faces. It was their story, the least they could do was to enjoy it fully.

They looked more like two lovers playing around than two rivals. They still had a long way to go, Oikawa with his family and his self-esteem, and Kuroo with his past, but they'd succeed, eventually. It doesn't matter how much time someone takes to heal, let it be a week, a month, a year or a decade. The most important thing is that in the end, this person heals and frees themselves from all their burdens.

They weren't going to heal each other's wounds. After all, it was a personal task that they had to do themselves, in order to make the choices that they really wanted. But they'd be there, to support each other during those tough times. They'd be supportive and it'd help the other the take a step forward the right path until they were both people they could be proud of, together.

But right now, after running for a while, their eyes both landed on the famous portkey they had almost forgotten about. It wasn't even hidden, it was on the ground under a gigantic tree, and it was a surprise that none of them found it earlier. Oikawa created a small hole under Kuroo's foot when he was about to take a step forward, and he fell gracelessly on the ground. Oikawa laughed and started to make his way to the portkey, but his boyfriend grabbed his ankle and pulled hard, causing the other to fall down with him.

Ensued a childish and harmless fight were the two were trying to crawl closer to the portkey without ever reaching it. Kuroo's hand was pushing Oikawa's face away from him as he was overing above him. With one hand, Oikawa was grabbing Kuroo by his collar while his other hand was trying to touch the portkey.

Unconsciously, none of them wanted to reach it, because it'd meant that the tournament would officially be over, and they really didn't want to.

The sound of leaves cracking caught their attention, and when they glanced around, a centaur was glaring at them, annoyance clearly written on his face. He was holding a bow in his hands which caused the two champions to scream. The two of them startled when the centaur took a step forward them, and their hands accidentally knocked the portkey over at the same time.

Before they knew it, the scenery around them changed, and they were teleported where all the others were waiting for them. Music started playing, people started to scream because the winner had finally arrived, but surprise soon settled on everybody's face when they looked at the scene before them.

Firstly, it wasn't one winner, but two. If one of them had touched the portkey not even a second later than the other, he wouldn't have been teleported, which meant that they had reached it at the same time. Secondly, Oikawa was still straddling Kuroo and holding him by the collar, and Kuroo's face was still deforming Oikawa's face. Thirdly, none of them had actually meant to touch the portkey on purpose. It was all an accident, and if it wasn't for this centaur, one of them would've probably touched it before the other and would've won.

Silence surrounded them and everybody looked at the three directors who all had the same frown on their faces, not knowing what to do. It was Ushijima, standing next to his director, who clapped first. “I guess we have two champions this year.” He announced, his lips forming an amused smirk. The directors next to him bursted into laugher before clapping too. The band started playing again, and the students didn't know if they were supposed to laugh because of this turn of events or not.

Kuroo looked at Oikawa. So much had happened this year, and winning the tournament with another champion was surely not was he had expected. They had just made history, because none of that had happened before. Kuroo sat up, laughed, and pulled Oikawa into another hug. They were soon surrounded by their friends, who had rushed to their sides and called them the biggest idiots ever. Kenma smiled at Oikawa, an apologetic, thankful smile, and Oikawa found himself tearing up, too relieved that everything had happily ended.

Later that day, after the champions got their wounds cleaned and rested for a bit, the biggest feast so far was served in the Great Hall. Oikawa and Kuroo learnt that Ushijima had to abandon because he had been attacked by a creature which was too dangerous to fight unless he didn't care about his safety, and they both congratulated him for how far he had gotten. It was the first time Oikawa respectfully talked to him, which meant that he had already taken a good step forward.

There was a small ball organized after the feast, and this time, Kuroo properly invited Oikawa to dance. There was no misunderstanding, no jealously, no lack of communication, just them being honest with their feelings. Iwaizumi even managed to get Kenma to dance, which caused Kuroo to gasp so loud he chocked on his own breath right after. Kenma called it karma, but it didn't stop him from dancing.

This night, for the first time in a while, Oikawa returned to his own bedroom and let Kuroo sleep in his bed. It was awkward at first, because Kuroo didn't know if just like that, he could hold him like before, but when Oikawa put his head against his chest, all his doubts vanished.

They talked. They actually talked a lot. About what happened, and what they wished they had said. About their future a little bit, and about what they'd do now. They laughed some more, kissed until their lips were numb, and they made up for all the distance they had put between them the last weeks.

Despite how hot it was, none of them let go of each other and they didn't complain when they woke up the following morning sticky with sweat. After they showered, they went back to the Great Hall where the trophy of the Triwizard tournament was and took a selfie with it.

They spent what remained of their free time together and Kuroo showed him his favorite places one last time. After all, it was his last day at Hogwarts' too, and he had made so many memories there. He couldn't just leave like it didn't make him feel a little bit sad.

Oikawa left him alone when he had to pack his own things. He met with his friends, and Kenma almost looked like he was about to cry when Kuroo told him next year would be alright for him, even if Kuroo wouldn't be there with him anymore, because he had come a long way too. Plus, it's not like he was totally alone, Akaashi would be there too, and they'd see each other during the holidays. After that, the four of them would be reunited again and they could even go to college together.

He almost cried for real, when the school's doors closed behind him. But when he looked around him, his friends were all smiling and hugging each other and Oikawa was waiting for him even though all the students from Beauxbatons were already ready to leave. Surprisingly, even though they were about to leave each other in order for Oikawa to return to France, Kuroo didn't feel like they'd grow apart. On the other hand, it felt like it was only now that the story between the two of them really started.

“Don't miss me too much.” Oikawa said once it was only the two of them. Kuroo's friends told him they'd save him a seat on the train, so he wasn't in such a hurry. “That sounds like a hard challenge, though.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes and pinched the cheek he was holding with his fingers before leaning in. “Don't blame me if I lose.” He whispered before they kissed, smiles of their faces making it a bit complicated. “You didn't forget it, right?”

Oikawa patted his luggage next to him. “Nope. Didn't forget yours?” Kuroo shook his head and pointed at the backpack on his shoulder. “Good, I'll see you in a few days then?”

“Yep, my dad has probably started cooking for your arrival already. He's more nervous than I am.” The two lovers snorted and exchanged another brief kiss before parting away. “Love you.” Kuroo told him before Oikawa reached his carriage.

“Love you too.” Oikawa responded. It felt so great, to say it out loud. The brunette sat next to his friends who were scowling him for being so such a sap, and just like that, they left.

Kuroo was leaving behind him his school, and the seven years he had spent there, but he was sure he'd never forget about all the memories he made. He still had a long way to go, a whole life waiting for him, and he'd make sure to live it with no regrets.

As a reward for winning the tournament, Oikawa and him had asked the directors to give them two smaller portkeys connected to each other. That way, once they'd be home, they could activate them and the two of them could see each other whenever they wanted. Sure, they'd probably feel dizzy at first and might even fall because of the teleportation, but at least the issue of the distance had quickly become something they didn't need to worry about.

Maybe their relationship would last a few more months, or years, and maybe it'd never end. None of that knew about for sure, but they decided not to focus on that for now. They had each other, their love was present and strong and nothing else mattered.

Perhaps their story wasn't so similar to Hippe's, the girl behind the Equuleus constellation like Oikawa had explained. The poor girl was separated from the man she loved and had to hide from her father all her life, but here, the two lovers were now free and nothing could separate them.

Kuroo looked at the sky above him. The light breeze allowed him to enjoy the warmth of the sun for a moment, and he thought back about what Oikawa had said when he had joined him and Ushijima after being chosen as Hogwarts' champion.

“Eh...” He said, a smile on his face. “He was right. This wasn't so bad, after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anddd that's it for this story! Thank you for sticking with me until the very end, I hope you liked it as much as I did! 
> 
> (another special shoutout to my friend jade who really helped me a lot with this fic and to all the tears we've shed on it)
> 
> Hopefully... see you soon for another oikuroo au I'm working on!!!! 
> 
> Stay safe everyone, take care of yourself and your loved ones, and see you next time
> 
> my [twitter](https://twitter.com/akechjgoro) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Iinhardt)


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